Sony yanks movies from Netflix-to-Xbox streaming service

One of the most useful features of the New Xbox Experience -- which went live this week -- is that it can stream movies from Netflix's on-demand service, giving your game console new life as a video-serving monster. But now comes the sad announcement that Sony has forbidden Netflix from allowing its titles to be played via the Xbox streaming system. They still work on your PC and via other hardware devices like the Roku Netflix Player, but they've now vanished from Xbox 360 dashboards.

You needn't think too hard to figure out why Sony made this move. The Xbox 360 is a direct competitor to the Sony PlayStation 3, and Sony doesn't want to give shoppers yet another reason to buy the competing console instead of the PS3. (Netflix hasn't said outright this is the reason the titles have vanished, but even the most naive consumer has to see this writing on the wall.)

It's an understandable move, yet a somewhat petty one. I guess those looking to watch masterworks like Resident Evil: Extinction will have to turn off the 360 and head for friendlier pastures.

The bigger trend though is that the announcement throws quite the wrench into the world of online streaming. I was ready to unplug my Roku box but now I'm not so sure. It's common that different films are available for streaming from different services, but this is the first time that I'm aware of that the problem has cropped up where you have a different selection of films to view within a single service's offering of titles. Will studios decide it's OK to watch movies on a PC but not on a TV? Or on a Windows machine but not on a Mac? Don't laugh: "Exclusive" deals like this happen all the time, and it would be trivial for Netflix to stop some viewers from watching whatever films they chose based on their hardware and software.

Credit to Netflix for at least trying to work this out. Per a Netflix spokesman in the MTV story linked above: "As watching instantly becomes a more prominent part of the Netflix service, our goal is to have all of our streaming content licensed for all of our partner devices. We're doing well in this area, but it will take some time before we fully achieve that goal. Today, titles regularly come in and out of license and there is a natural ebb and flow to what we have on license at any given point in time." Sadly, knowing the vitriol between the Sony and Microsoft game groups, I'm not optimistic about this one.