Netflix, the American online movie rental service, yesterday introduced a new feature that allows people to immediately watch movies and television series on their PCs and said it will make the new feature available to its subscribers in a phased roll-out over the next six months.
Subscribers will continue to receive DVDs by mail from a catalogue of over 70,000 titles and will have the additional option of instantly watching about 1,000 movies and TV series on their PCs. The new feature will be included in subscribers’ monthly membership plans at no additional cost.
Netflix said it expects to make the new feature available to all subscribers by the end of June. The hours available for instant watching will vary based on subscribers’ monthly plans. For example, subscribers on the entry-level $5.99 plan will have six hours of online movie watching per month and subscribers on the top-tier plan $17.99 for unlimited DVD rental, will have 18 hours of online movie watching per month.
The new immediate viewing feature differs from current services in that it does not require the often lengthy downloading of a large video file. The Netflix feature uses real-time playback technology that allows video to be viewed at virtually the same time it is being delivered to a user’s computer. Following a one-time installation of a browser applet, most subscribers’ movie selections will begin playing in their Web browser in 10 to 15 seconds. Movies can be paused and a position bar gives viewers the ability to immediately jump to any point in the movie. The instant watching feature requires Internet connectivity with a minimum of one megabit per second of bandwidth with better quality at higher connection speeds. (RB)
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