After many weeks of churning in the rumor mill, Netflix announced Sony’s PS3 will support streaming titles from the rental service’s online video library.
We’ve got good news for PS3 owners! Soon you will be able to instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV via your PS3. Today we announced that the PS3 is about to join the ever growing list of Netflix ready devices that allow streaming of movies and TV episodes whenever you want, as much as you want, all included in your unlimited Netflix subscription. The PS3 is a terrific Blu-ray and gaming platform that will get even better in November when we start streaming thousands of movies and TV episodes!
The release hit the wire early Monday morning or late Sunday night, if you are a gamer, but you won’t be able to stream Netflix movies and TV shows until November. To be prepared you should make sure you have everything on the watch instantly checklist:
- Sony Playstation 3
- Netflix unlimited plan
- High speed network connection
- Netflix instant streaming disc for PS3
Up until this announcement, you had to buy MediaMall’s PlayOn software to stream Netflix on a PS3. That product may still appeal to some viewers since it offers a open platform with support for other services and a developer community adding capabilities.
Which brings us to exclusivity, or XBox 360’s lack thereof. It was back in August that Microsoft revealed its deal with Netflix
Microsoft has announced that it has an exclusive partnership with Netflix.
DailyTech – Microsoft Details Xbox Live Update, Netflix Exclusivity
Without tracking down all the terms of that partnership, you are left to speculate if the new Windows Media Center in Windows 7 allowed for Netflix to get out from under those terms of exclusivity. It would seem only fair to all the parties involved:
- Microsoft now has a new platform to draw in content publishers and viewers alike after 3 months of exclusivity
- Netflix now gets to add more platforms after 3 months of learning the challenges of streaming on a game console
- Sony now increases the content offerings of its PlayStation Network and also benefits from 3 months of learning
And for the other players, Wii and PlayOn still have each other, right? Maybe they should find out if AppleTV wants to start building a family.
After the Transition 