PlayStation 3 owners soon will be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix to their TVs using the gaming console, just as Xbox 360 owners have been able to do for a year.
Sony Corp. and the DVD rental company announced the service Monday and plan to launch it next month. It will be available free to PlayStation 3 owners who have a Netflix subscription that starts at $9.
Netflix streaming already is available on a broad range of devices such as the Roku digital video player, Internet-connected TV sets (including Sony's) and Blu-ray players - and the PlayStation 3's archrival, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360. On the Xbox, however, the Netflix streaming is available only to Xbox Live "Gold" members, who pay $50 a year mainly to play games online with friends in other places.
For Netflix Inc., the deal brings millions of potential new customers, to add to the 11.1 million it already has in the United States. About 9 million PlayStation 3 systems have been sold in the United States and more than 25 million worldwide.
Movie streaming is an increasingly important service for Netflix even though it says it expects to keep renting DVDs until 2030. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said he would like the streaming service to be available on all three of the major gaming platforms, the Xbox, the Wii and the PlayStation. Until now, however, the company had an exclusive deal with Microsoft.
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