Netflix to stream some titles in high-def
Video Business
By Danny King -- Video Business, 11/4/2008 2:43:00 PM
Netflix will soon make a limited number of its high-definition titles available for video-streaming through both the Roku set-top box and Microsoft's Xbox 360 videogame console.About 300 of Netflix's 12,000 video-streaming titles will be available for owners of the Netflix Player by Roku box to send directly to their HDTV sets by the end of next month, wrote Tim Twerdahl, VP of consumer products at closely held Roku, in a Nov. 1 blog entry. Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey confirmed that the company would do a "soft launch" of about 300 titles for Roku and Xbox, though declined to give a specific deadline.
Netflix, the largest U.S. movie-rental service via mail, has been trying to boost subscribers by augmenting its by-mail service with an expanded inventory of titles through its streaming service and partnering with component makers to allow the content to be accessed directly from TV sets. Within the last two weeks, Netflix has agreed to have its titles streamed through TiVo digital video recorders and Samsung Blu-ray Disc players.
Netflix in May introduced the Roku set-top box, which allows customers to stream titles from Netflix's online inventory of 12,000 videos on 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.
Since then, Netflix also has signed agreements to carry video-streaming content from Liberty Media's Starz movie channel, Walt Disney's Disney Channel and CBS.
