James Lee
12:19 (BST)
02/06/2008
Netflix has partnered with Microsoft, says Wedbush Morgan
Wedbush Morgan Securities has speculated about a possible Netflix deal to stream movies through Xbox 360 consoles.
The conclusion, made by the investment banking firm, came off the back of comments made by Netflix management. If true it would allow the online rental service to stream movies directly into consumer's consoles.
"As we have speculated in the past, we believe that one of Netflix's partners is Microsoft. We arrive at this conclusion based upon Netflix management repeatedly mentioning 'Internet enabled video game consoles'," said a Wedbush Morgan statement.
"While there are three such consoles, only one - Microsoft's Xbox 360 - has a sufficiently large installed base to make sense from a streaming partnership with Netflix."
"The competitive advantage of such an alliance is clear: Netflix customers who are Xbox Live members will have the ability to stream online content through their Xbox 360s directly to their televisions. The ability to do so is available without the Xbox 360, but requires a measure of technological sophistication and a high tolerance for failure," it added.
Earlier this year, Netflix had surveyed subscribers on the possibility of streaming movies via the Xbox 360 console.
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