Netflix Grabs Another Gaming Console

Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) is expanding availability of its "Watch Instantly" streaming video service to Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE)'s PlayStation 3 gaming console.

The news, announced on the PlayStation 3 blog yesterday, came just a few days after Netflix revised its subscription forecast for the fourth quarter on the company's third-quarter earnings call.

Citing the availability of the streaming service on a new consumer electronics device with a "significant install base," Netflix raised its full-year subscription forecast from a range of 11.6 million to 12 million to a range of 12 million to 12.3 million. Netflix had 11.1 million subscribers by the end of the third quarter.

The introduction of the service on PS3 will happen about a year after Netflix made its streaming capabilities available on Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console. But unlike the Microsoft deal, which made the "Watch Instantly" service available through a software upgrade on the Xbox gaming console, PlayStation owners will need an instant-streaming disc to make the service work. Netflix plans to begin distributing the discs next month.

In addition to the PS3 and Xbox 360, Netflix's streaming service is available on broadband-connected CE devices from Sony, LG Electronics Inc. (London: LGLD; Korea: 6657.KS), Samsung, and Vizio. The service is also enabled on Roku Inc. Internet set-top boxes and TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) DVRs.

— Ryan Lawler, Senior Editor, Cable Digital News and Contentinople