Today's the "official" kick off for Netflix's offering instant streaming to the Wii, with instant streaming discs for the Wii being sent out to any Netflix member who wants one (up until now, Netflix has been beta testing Wii streaming to a small number of users). Netflix members who want a disc can click here to get one via First Class mail To stream, user will need to have a broadband connection and a Netflix $8.99 membership.
Netflix already streams movies to Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox, as well as launching steaming to Apple's new iPad, which came out April 3.
The deal with Nintendo's Wii gives Netflix outlets to all of the major game platforms.
"Launching Netflix on the Wii marks a significant advance in the evolution of our service," said Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings. "(Wii) has meaningfully altered the consumer electronics landscape. Bringing Netflix to Wii catapults us toward our goal of being ubiquitous on the connected devices most popular with consumers."
In January, Netflix put an end to months of speculation about when the Wii console would get the video on demand service that already had been implemented in Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PS3. Late last month, it started sending out discs to some of its customers with Wiis for a short beta. The company has made a stronger push to online delivery of movies, acknowledging that it was aware the DVD-by-mail business that it relied upon was in decline.
"Our growth in the last two years has been propelled in large part by our investments in streaming content and in the streaming platform," Hastings said. "When the Wii application ships, it's going to really open up a large additional opportunity."
For more:
- see this article
Related articles:
Netflix sending out discs for streaming to Wii
At last, the Wii gets Netflix
Netflix to Wii? Analysts say 'soon'
Sony set to launch VOD service?
Netflix to offer a la carte streaming service overseas, not in U.S.
Netflix Xbox streaming app sees 1M downloads
Netflix and the online video economy