New Netflix Feature

A little while back, Netflix announced they were going to start offering a view now option for their paying customers. This option allows the customer to watch streaming video of select movies. The service is a free add-on for current subscribers.

All this sounded good to me, but when I logged onto my account, I didn’t see the option. So, I figured it was either not being offered yet or my account didn’t qualify.

Today, I logged onto my account and saw the option there. So, I was a little curious as to how it would work and what type movies they had. I found out that the amount of video you get to watch is based on the amount you pay per month on the bill (i.e. if you currently have the 2 movies at a time/unlimited number per month plan for $14.99, you get to watch 15 hours each month on the new option). I am a $15 subscriber, so that means I can watch about 6-7 movies each month.

So, the question then becomes, is there much of a selection?

To my surprise, yes, there is a pretty decent selection of movies. I did a quick once over of the comedy section and saw titles such as The Jerk, Zoolander, and Clue as well as numerous lesser known titles.

The big feature for me is that they display movies that are on you queue that are available to be watched. For example, I currently have a live show of the Comedians of Comedy on my queue; as soon as I pull up the watch now feature, that movie is listed under the “My Queue” section. This means that I can go about my normal queue selection processes and if I ever want to just watch one now, all I have to do is flip over to that section.

Of course, this can be seen as a direct blow to Blockbuster video. Lately, I’ve seen a large number of Blockbuster commercials saying that they are better because you can bring you mailed movies into a local shop and rent whatever you want instantly.  The new watch now feature allows instant viewing to Netflix customers. Thus negating Blockbuster’s whole marketing scheme. And to kick dirt in Blockbuster’s face, Netflix’s watch now feature can be expanded to allow for a larger selection of movies (to whatever extent the servers can handle). This is a vast improvement over the 20 new release titles that clog up the Blockbusters.

The only downside I can see are the download times for the movies. I have yet to use the service, but downloading a simple document takes a little while; so, downloading an entire movie will probably take a heck of a time. Also, if it is streaming video, there could be a big issue of the video being choppy or stopping to reload or rebuffer.

All in all, this new feature looks like something that will help Netflix AND the movie watching community. That is a win-win situation.