Netflix streaming available to some Mac users
Broader access to come by year-end
By Danny King -- Video Business, 10/27/2008
OCT. 27 | Netflix released an updated version of its media player that will allow a limited number of Mac users to stream from its online inventory of about 12,000 digital titles.
The second-generation media player, which uses components from Microsoft's Silverlight player, is now available to "a small percentage of new Netflix subscribers," the largest U.S. movie-rental service via mail said in a statement today.
Netflix said earlier this month that its video-streaming service will be available by the end of the year to subscribers who own Apple's Macintosh personal computers.
The player "offers faster start-up and higher quality video adapted in real time to users' connection speeds," Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt said in the statement. The new player is available only to Macs with Intel chips.
The company, which estimated that three-quarters of its Mac-owning subscribers' computers have Intel chips, hasn't disclosed how many people will initially receive the player or what percentage of its 8.67 million subscribers are Mac owners.
Netflix has been trying to boost subscribers by augmenting its by-mail service with an expanded inventory of titles through its streaming service. Last week, Netflix and Samsung reached an agreement allowing owners of Samsung's Blu-ray Disc players to stream Netflix's movies and TV episodes directly to their TVs, marking the second such agreement Netflix has made with a component maker in less than three months.
Netflix first expanded its video-streaming base beyond PC users in May by introducing a set-top box allowing customers to stream from an inventory of what was about 10% of its 100,000 titles directly to TVs. Later that month, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said products such as Netflix Player by Roku, which had to be back-ordered within three weeks of its introduction, would double the company’s subscriber base within a decade.
The company also has recently announced agreements to carry video-streaming content from Liberty Media's Starz movie channel, Walt Disney's Disney Channel and CBS.
NBC used Microsoft's Silverlight player on its Web site to allow viewers to stream "thousands of hours" of video from the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Netflix said today.
Last week, Netflix cut its fourth-quarter sales and subscriber forecasts for the second time this month after reporting that its third-quarter profit jumped 30% on a 23% increase in subscribers. The company also said this month that it would raise subscriber rates for customers who want access to Blu-ray discs by $1 a month.
