Netflix to Bow Disc-Free Streaming to PS3 Before October

Netflix expects before its next quarterly earnings call, in October, to launch “a major new version” of its Sony PS3 streaming user interface that won’t require a disc “and is dynamically updated continuously with the latest Netflix UI improvements,” CEO Reed Hastings said Wednesday.

The company won’t comment further until its October call about its recently announced plans to launch a streaming service in Canada in the fall, Hastings said. Netflix “chose Canada because it forms a great validation market for us in terms of pure streaming,” he said. “Our future international streaming-only investments will be dependent on our learning in Canada."

Netflix is “very pleased” with its success getting its streaming services installed on more and more devices, Hastings said. “By the end of the year we expect Netflix to be available on over 100 million devices in consumers’ homes,” he said. Referring to the new PS3 user interface, Hastings said, “Not only are we adding more platforms, but we are also making significant improvements in our existing platforms."

Hastings wouldn’t comment when an analyst asked whether the new PS3 user interface will require access to the premium Playstation Plus subscription service. Concerning the PS3, “we'll have more to say about that when we roll it out and that will be before or expected to be before the next call,” he said. Netflix is “working on improvements but we have nothing to announce today,” Hastings said.

Asked which types of streaming devices give Netflix the biggest subscriber growth potential, Hastings said videogame consoles “have large installed bases and upgradability over the Internet, so that gives them a big advantage.” Second to consoles in growth potential are Netflix-capable streaming Blu-ray players, he said. “And that advantage is they are all Internet-connected because it was part of the Blu-ray security spec and they are relatively low in price. So they are easy to upgrade if you got a big TV already in place."

As for Internet TVs, the category is “just emerging now,” Hastings said. “We've been very happy with some of the early progress from Sony and Vizio and others, but that category in the very long term is likely to be the leading category. But at this point, it’s still nascent. And that works for us fine.”