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Netflix movie streaming coming to PlayStation 3
By BARBARA ORTUTAY (AP) – 25 minutes ago

NEW YORK — PlayStation 3 owners will soon be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix to their TVs using the gaming console, just as Xbox 360 owners have been able to do for a year.

Sony Corp. and the DVD rental company announced the service Monday and plan to launch it next month. It will be available for free to PlayStation 3 owners who have a Netflix subscription that starts at $9.

Netflix streaming is already available on a broad range of devices, such as the Roku digital video player, Internet-connected TV sets (including Sony's) and Blu-ray players — and the PlayStation 3's archrival, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360. On the Xbox, however, the Netflix streaming is available only to Xbox Live "Gold" members, who pay $50 a year mainly to play games online with friends in other places.

For Netflix Inc., the deal brings millions of potential new customers, to add to the 11.1 million it already has in the United States. About 9 million PlayStation 3 systems have been sold in U.S., and more than 25 million worldwide.

Movie streaming is an increasingly important service for Netflix even though it says it expects to keep renting DVDs until 2030. And Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said he would like the streaming service to be available on all three of the major gaming platforms — the Xbox, the Wii and the PlayStation. Until now, however, the company had an exclusive deal with Microsoft.

"The PlayStation 3 is an amazing video platform," Hastings said in an interview.

This leaves the Wii as the last console without Netflix streaming. But even without it, the Wii is the top-selling console.

Netflix has about 17,000 movies and TV shows available for streaming, though few of them are new releases. This will expand the movies Sony already rents and sells through the PlayStation 3, and will give the company another feature to tout as it markets the PlayStation as a diverse entertainment device.

With a TV ad campaign whose slogan is "It Only Does Everything," Sony is targeting men and women between 18 and 49 and playing up the console's capabilities beyond gaming. Last year, its aim was still younger men, the gamer demographic.

"I think we always knew we made a significant investment in the PS3 and we were ahead of the time in terms of technology," said Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. "But technology that was mystifying to the consumer three years ago is being coveted now."

To access the Netflix streaming service, PlayStation 3 users will have to pop in a Blu-ray disc that Netflix will mail out. The disc will access the Internet and activate the Netflix system so people can find movies to stream.

now if only Netflix will get working on getting netflix to work on Linux... :P

Awesome! Except most of their "on-demand" movies and series are unwatchable. Well, that's not fair to say......they are most likely something you've already seen.

Of the 38 movies in my queue, only one is available to watch online. And it's a really old movie.

Maybe I'll watch Step Brothers again next month.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud the extra functionality......just saying it's not going to add hundreds of hours of enjoyment a month. Maybe a movie a month.

Yeah, the "Instant" movie collection isn't fantastic, but there are some good ones in there, but like you said, all things you have probably already seen. There are some good TV series though, the Office, 30 Rock, Weeds, Dexter, Lost to name a few.

My cousin has this on 360 and it's pretty cool. But unfortunately we don't have netflix (no need for it since we have a video store in town) and there's no way I'm paying for it.

Netflix is much better than going to a video store, unless you only rent 1 movie a month.

Not when you get each movie for only a dollar.

depends on how many you rent, i suppose.

i pay $8.xx a month for 1 movie rental + online streaming and i only really signed up for the streaming. a lot of tv shows on there (south park, 30 rock, the office, man v food, etc). if you rent 8 or more movies a month, netflix is more cost effective unless you watch multiples in one sitting.

All movies for a dollar? Hmm, guess you thats a deal.

We use netflix streaming all the time. In fact, as I type this, my son and I are watching Hot shots Part Deux. Of course, we don't have cable, and use it as our HBO and hulu and various other online sources for different cable shows we don't get. My son was working his way through some of his Nikalodeon (sp) shows earlier on Netflix.

This is huge for the PS3. The PlayStation Store on the PSN has game and video sections. Sony needed to do something - I heard that not a lot of people are renting/purchasing movies through the PlayStation Store.

With this Netflix deal, Sony will definitely pocket more money, more clout, and hopefully more PS3 owners.

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Yeah, the "Instant" movie collection isn't fantastic, but there are some good ones in there, but like you said, all things you have probably already seen. There are some good TV series though, the Office, 30 Rock, Weeds, Dexter, Lost to name a few.

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Quantum Leap... Sliders(though you can watch the good seasons on Hulu now) Hercules: The legendary journeys..

though lately now.. i'm watchign Stargate: SG1 on Hulu..