Netflix Lifts Streaming Restrictions

Almost all Netflix plans now included unlimited streaming movies at no additional cost.

Netflix subscribers benefitted unexpectedly from competition on Monday, when the service announced unlimited streaming movie service for subscribers with no additional fee, excluding those on the lowest $4.99-per-month plans. Many believe the shift in policy was a preemptive move to counter Apple, which is widely expected to introduce a similar streaming movie service at Macworld.

Prior to the announcement, Netflix offered streaming video using a metered dollars-per-month model, in which every dollar toward a monthly plan equated to one hour of streaming video for that month. The $16.99 plan, for instance, allowed subscribers 17 hours of streaming video per month. Under the new plan, every subscriber paying $8.99 and up for Netflix will be able to stream as much video as they want, with no limits. Those on the $4.99 budget plan will receive two complimentary hours of streaming video per month.

“Unlimited has always been a very powerful selling point with our subscribers and a large part of what set us apart in the marketplace,” said Leslie Kilgore, Netflix’s chief marketing officer, in a statement. “In talking with members about our streaming feature during the past year, it became clear that, as with DVDs, the idea of streaming unlimited movies and TV episodes on a PC resonated quite strongly.”

While the Netflix DVD rental library includes over 90,000 titles, the smaller streaming library currently hosts 6,000 TV shows and movies, including Heroes, The Office, 30 Rock, and movies such as The Sum of All Fears and Pan’s Labyrinth.