Netflix: More than 1 Mln Xbox Users

By Geoff Duncan February 5, 2009

Netflix: More than 1 Mln Xbox Users

Video rental darling Netflix has announced that more than 1 million Xbox 360 console owners have activated Netflix streaming video service since the company partnered with Microsoft and rolled out Netflix video streaming on Xbox Live in conjunction with the New Xbox Experience. According to the company, Xbox Live users have streamed more than 1.5 billion minutes of movies and television programming through the Watch Instantly feature. The feature is available to Xbox Live Gold members, who pay Microsoft $50 a year for access to enhanced online and gaming services; the users must also be Netflix subscribers to stream Netflix video.

Netflix’s partnership with Microsoft for video streaming is only one of the company’s major forays into Internet video delivery. Although it’s video streaming service has been available for personal computers for about two years, the company has recently aligned with the likes of LG, Roku, and TiVo to offer titles to subscribers immediately over the Internet. Netflix currently offers about 12,000 selections to users of its streaming service, with a growing percentage of the content available in high definition. Unlike a la carte offerings from Blockbuster and Amazon, Netflix’s service is subscription based.

Netflix did not indicate how many new subscribers it has gained as a result of its streaming video partnership, but the company recently posted better-than-expected quarterly financials as other major media companies have been facing declining revenues from lower DVD sales.

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