Netflix Partners With LG For Set-Top Box

Netflix, the most successful of the DVD via mail companies, has partnered up with LG for a new movie delivery system that will bypass the postal system.

Currently, Netflix users can stream up to 6,000 movies to a PC connected to the internet with a high speed connection.  The new set-top box, scheduled for later this year, will allow subscribers to skip the PC and watch directly on their televisions.

“We want to be integrated on every Internet-connected device, game system, high-definition DVD player and dedicated Internet set-top box,” said CEO Reed Hastings. “Eventually, as TVs have wireless connectivity built into them, we’ll integrate right into the television.”

“We think we have solved the real fundamental problem, which has been that choosing movies on a tvset has been extremely challenging,” Mr. Hastings continued. “Video-on-demand companies worked at it for a long time, but choosing movies on the TV just doesn’t have the power of the Web.”

The inital offering will not include high definition programming, and currently there is a limit on the amount of films that subscribers can watch.   However, the service will be free, since the company will potentially be saving millions of dollars in postal fees.

Source: New York Times