Netflix has decided o lift the curbs on subscribers in terms of time limit for watching online movies. The company is now allowing viewers unlimited access to streaming movies and television shows in a move designed to nullify whatever announcements Apple is due to make at the Macworld conference.
Under the current plans, subscribers can watch anywhere between 5 to 48 hours of streaming movies on the Internet. Apart from subscribers who are on the two-rentals-per-month scheme, all Netflix subscribers will be able to watch unlimited movies and TV shows, the company announced.
The Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix is in stiff competition from Apple, which is due to announce full Hollywood movie rentals from its iTunes store. Netflix introduced the streaming movie service almost one year ago. The company said the most watched films during this period included "The Sum of All Fears," "The Italian Job" and "Letters from Iwo Jima."
"In talking with members … the idea of streaming unlimited movies and TV episodes on a PC resonated quite strongly," said Netflix chief marketing officer Leslie Kilgore.
Currently the streaming movie service is available only to Windows users, but Netflix promised in August last year that it would make the service compatible with Macs as well. It is thought that the company will use Microsoft's Silverlight for this purpose.
Michael Gartenberg, a research director at JupiterResearch felt that Netflix's concept was interesting, but doubted if customers would flock to it. "At the end of the day if you're a Netflix customer, this is an added bonus, but it's not a reason to join Netflix," he added.
