Coming Soon on the PS3: discless Netflix streaming

Streaming movies on your PlayStation 3 will be easier than ever starting later this year. In a statement issued Wednesday, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings discussed the future of the video-streaming service. Included was the announcement of a major update to the way movies will be streamed on Sony’s PlayStation 3. Currently, PS3 users are required to use a specific disc to watch movies on the console. However, the updated version of the service, arriving by October, will be very similar to the service currently provided to Xbox 360 owners. The new system will not require a disc, and will be “dynamically updated continuously with the latest Netflix UI improvements.”

Nintendo’s Wii console, which also currently uses a disc for the video streaming service, was not mentioned in the statement. However, Hastings projected that Netflix instant streaming will be available “on over 100 million devices in consumers’ homes” by the end of the year. Will this news help Netflix stay on top of a market which sees a new competing service, from Hulu Plus to Apple TV, popping up every week?

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Tagged as: Hulu, Netflix, Online Media, PlayStation 3, Sony