Andre Yoskowitz
2 Jun 2008 14:01
Analysts at Wedbush Morgan Securities have reported that there is the likely possibility that Netflix will strike a deal with Microsoft to stream movies through the Xbox 360.
The report came after the investment banking firm looked through comments made by Netflix management. If the report turns out to be true, the popular online rental service would be able to stream movie directly to million's of consumer's gaming consoles.
"As we have speculated in the past, we believe that one of Netflix's partners is Microsoft. We arrive at this conclusion based upon Netflix management repeatedly mentioning 'Internet enabled video game consoles'," said a Wedbush Morgan statement.
"While there are three such consoles, only one - Microsoft's Xbox 360 - has a sufficiently large installed base to make sense from a streaming partnership with Netflix."
"The competitive advantage of such an alliance is clear: Netflix customers who are Xbox Live members will have the ability to stream online content through their Xbox 360s directly to their televisions. The ability to do so is available without the Xbox 360, but requires a measure of technological sophistication and a high tolerance for failure," it added.
The "measure of technological sophistication" would most likely involve Roku's new Netflix set-top box which allows users to stream movies to their TVs using Netflix's Instant Watch feature.
In January, Netflix gave a survey to subscribers on whether they would like the possibility of having movies streamed to their consoles.