LG TVs to stream Netflix videos
UPDATE: Content will be available without set-top
By Danny King -- Video Business, 1/5/2009
JAN. 5 | Netflix reached an agreement with LG Electronics that will allow Netflix's online video content to be streamed directly to LG's high-definition TVs without the need for a set-top box, expanding a partnership that includes a July 2008 agreement to stream titles through LG's Blu-ray Disc players.
LG this spring will start selling liquid-crystal display and plasma TVs that allow customers to stream directly from Netflix's more than 12,000 digital titles, the companies said in a statement today. LG and Netflix will unveil the new TVs at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
Netflix, which expects its streaming service to double the company's subscriber base within a decade, last July reached an agreement with LG that allowed its titles to be streamed through LG's BD300 Blu-ray players. The largest movie-rental service via mail last year reached similar agreements for TiVo digital video recorders, Microsoft Xbox 360 videogame consoles and Samsung Blu-ray players.
Seoul-based LG is the world's third-largest TV maker, with an 11% global market share, according to NPD Group unit DisplaySearch.
"LG Electronics was first to embrace Netflix as a streaming partner a year ago and was first in 2008 to introduce a Blu-ray Disc player that streams movies from Netflix," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in the statement. "So it's fitting that LG is the first to introduce Netflix instant streaming directly to the TV with these next-generation HDTVs."
Netflix is competing with companies such as Blockbuster and Amazon.com to attract customers to digital delivery services.
Amazon said yesterday that its digital movie and TV titles are available for streaming directly to TV sets after reaching an agreement with set-top box maker Roku, which reached a similar deal with Netflix last May. Amazon last year reached a deal with Sony that allows set-top-box-free digital delivery through the TV maker's Bravia HDTV sets.
