Netflix has won the agreement of Lionsgate Films to stream the movie distributor's offerings to its UK subscribers when it launches over here in 2012. Earlier this month Netflix announced a UK streaming deal with MGM, and it is believed to be talking to ITV too. Heck, it's talking to everyone. You don't set up in opposition …

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Monday 14th November 2011 10:52 GMT Anonymous Coward

Streaming = shite.

The quality is awful.

I'll stick with films by post thanks very much, and have the occasional streaming on demand on the PS3 if I want it.

FAIL because anyone with a HDTV streaming poor quality content is EPIC FAIL. Infact the whole industry is EPIC FAIL as those anti-piracy trailers are the cinema showing crap picture quality, that's exactly what they are offering up..

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Monday 14th November 2011 10:52 GMT JDX

You don't set up in opposition to Lovefilm without a comparable quantity of content

LoveFilm's online content is woeful in comparison to NetFlix US.

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1. Monday 14th November 2011 11:06 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
  
  Re: You don't set up in opposition to Lovefilm without a comparable quantity of content
  
  Indeed, but don't expect Netflix UK to offer the same range of content as Netflix US. Different market, different contracts.
  
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  1. Monday 14th November 2011 11:53 GMT My Alter Ego
    
    Do the *IAA actually want to make money?
    
    You've got to wonder if the entertainment industry actually want to make money - they'll be earning money from licensing their products with zero overhead (they're not the ones paying for bandwidth). The only reason the contracts are different is that for some reason they believe it makes sense that everyone outside the 51 states pays significantly more.
    
    I very rarely buy DVDs (and most of them are UK films), and gave up on LoveFilm very quickly. A streaming service with a good library would make me reach into my wallet far more often than renting a movie on a whim, and when it arrives realising I'm not in the mood to watch it.
    
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Monday 14th November 2011 14:45 GMT Joseph Lord

Studios do want money they get it from... Sky exclusivity

The reason that the movie streaming options of movies less than about 3 years old is not available is that Sky has the subscription and Pay Per View exclusivity for the window between about 12 months after cinema release and this time. Pay per view is not exclusive in the earliest window.

Ofcom is looking into the issue but I wouldn't expect them to do anything quickly so unless alternative opportunities can offer more potential profit to the studios than the existing exclusivity deal from Sky I wouldn't expect to see a massive change any time soon.

Netflix will probably end up with a very similar range of content to Lovefilm.

There might be some content not already locked up that proves valuable

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Monday 14th November 2011 14:52 GMT jai

So we'll be able to stream Red State then? that's ace!

But then again, but the time Netflix launches, I'll have bought the film on blu-ray, so won't have to stream it.

Oh well.

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Monday 14th November 2011 18:33 GMT JDX

@Tony

Balls :(

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Monday 14th November 2011 18:33 GMT JDX

re:Streaming = shite

Considering even YouTube offers HD I'm not sure what you're basing this on. LoveFilm and 4OD might be poor but iPlayer and Netflix (US version) are better - the latter letting you choose the bit-rate.

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