Netflix Smackdown Versus Xbox 360

Netflix has stopped Xbox 360 users from streaming movies distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It is not a glitch according to Netflix.

“In the case of Xbox 360, a few hundred titles are temporarily unavailable to be streamed via the Xbox game console,” Netflix VP of corporate communications Steve Swasey told MTV Multiplayer in an e-mailed statement tonight. “Those titles are still available to be watched on subscribers’ computers and on TVs via other partner devices, and we hope they’ll be licensed for Xbox 360 shortly.”

So if you were watching the latest Sony flick on your Xbox recently and did not finish watching then you will be out of luck due to this stoppage.

Is it a coincidence that this license expired just when Netflix was being added to Microsoft or did Sony ask to have the streaming disabled?

“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,” he said. “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.”