Sony Pictures celebrates NXE eve by...blocking Xbox 360 Netflix movie streaming

by Richard Lawler posted Nov 18th 2008 at 10:14PM

Just hours before the Xbox 360's newest dashboard update hits tomorrow morning (10:00 a.m. GMT), our friends at Joystiq noticed the list of movies available for Netflix Watch Instantly streaming has suddenly dropped. The culprit? Sony Pictures Home Entertainment subsidiary Columbia Pictures, flicking previously available titles like Superbad, Bad Boys, and We Own the Night over to "Not available on Xbox" status (curiously, SPHE movies are still available to all.) Word from the official Netflix blog cites "the ebb and flow" of what is available on license at any given time, causing a few hundred titles to be "temporarily" unavailable on the console, while still open for streaming for other devices, with an eye towards licensing them for the Xbox 360 soon. There's no way to know what movies won't work until adding them to your queue, so when you find your Karate Kid trilogy watching time suddenly wide open for more Gears of War 2 or Left 4 Dead action, just remember you have Sony to thank.

[Via Joystiq & Multiplayer]

Filed under: Media streamers, Other hardware

Tags: columbia pictures, ColumbiaPictures, netflix, nxe, sony, sphe, streaming, watch instantly, WatchInstantly, xbox, xbox 360, Xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highly Ranked

massive_98 @ Nov 18th 2008 10:24PM

The fanboys are going to have a field day with this. (I can't wait)

Highest Ranked

aaron @ Nov 18th 2008 10:48PM

all this says to me is how scared sony is about this taking significant sales from bluray....

i there is a 99% chance they come to their senses and are back on netflix before the year is over.

Neutral

DrXym @ Nov 19th 2008 12:28PM

Actually this is probably more a sign of Sony being smart during their contract negotiations with Netflix. They probably ensured there was an explicit clause in the contract to prevent Netflix entering an exclusivity agreement with MS and being able stream Sony's content to that device. Netflix must be honouring the terms and conditions that they themselves agreed to.

Highest Ranked

Rob78 @ Nov 18th 2008 10:50PM

Seems like a petty move on Sony parts. It can only hurt them long term.

Highest Ranked

drphil7 @ Nov 18th 2008 11:05PM

Fanboy or not, its a pretty stupid move. Its not as if they wont be available eventually and its only the first day, and I thought blu-ray was doing well for them.

Highest Ranked

kelly @ Nov 18th 2008 11:11PM

I'd do this if I was sony too. Has nothing to do with blu ray. How does MS paying publishers to take the playstation franchises not petty but this is? That's normal capitalist competition and so is this. sony can do what they want. Only the fanboys will notice and harbor hard feelings toward sony, oh wait, that's already happened...nevermind, probably won't hurt sony at all to affect xbox movie rentals..

Neutral

dukrous @ Nov 19th 2008 5:10PM

Paying a publisher for exclusive content is not petty, it's business. Sony is completely allowed to also pay for their own exclusive content. Sony specifically excluding only the 360 and allowing all other devices is petty because it's discrimination.

Highly Ranked

plushog @ Nov 18th 2008 11:16PM

No fanboy, I own both consoles and could care less about which is better.

This move by sony is them saying, watch our movies on anything except for a competing console, even if that means losing money. For what reason? So more people will watch Sony movies on the PS3 from the ps3 store? Moves like this tend to piss off consumers and will make them want to use vudu or some other service other then the PS3 store.

Sony needs to realize they took too long bringing movie rentals to the PS3, as a result Xbox gained significant market share for online rentals. This tactic will not solve their problem.

Highly Ranked

WebDev511 @ Nov 19th 2008 10:49AM

+1, not to mention video content on the PS3 Store, um sucks.

Sony isn't doing themselves any favors by keeping the media catalog up to date. Very few movies, no current movie trailers and far fewer blu-ray trailers than one would expect for a console that they're trying to push as a media hub.

Neutral

netflixfreeak @ Nov 20th 2008 2:14PM

I say we email sony pictures and tell them that we don't appreciate this slap in the face to consumers. Here is the email for Sony Picture Home Entertainment. Won't hurt to email them and tell them how we feel

consumer@SPHECustomerSupport.sony.com

Highest Ranked

T-bone @ Nov 18th 2008 11:39PM

Pretty simple, put them in the mail queue, rip them, and then watch on your terms through the 360.

Neutral

clads01 @ Nov 19th 2008 12:26PM

But not possible (AFAIK) if you are using your 360 standalone ...

Neutral

mitchelljd @ Nov 19th 2008 12:19AM

naw guys this is about wanting their product NOT carried on xbox, not blu-ray.

but i can't blame em. if Sony cares so much, start carrying netflix!!!

Neutral

Patrick @ Nov 19th 2008 12:06AM

Boo hoo hoo, SPHE. Would you like a pacifier?

Neutral

Doc @ Nov 19th 2008 12:12AM

Well what's done is done, so the only question that I have now is how many movie does that leave for 360's to stream? Anyone know the before and after #'s??

Neutral

PASTORxG @ Nov 19th 2008 12:36AM

Just one more reason to hate Sony!

Neutral

Cam @ Nov 19th 2008 2:37AM

HA!

Sony sucks, ps3 sucks, they are so behind

Why do they care? They're already giving up on blu-ray, seeing as how they've finally jumped on the digital download bandwagon by selling their content on itunes

Neutral

The Aggie CEO @ Nov 19th 2008 7:56AM

how have they given up on Blu-ray???

thats like saying they gave up on DVD because they sell movies on iTunes..........when DVD sells account for the the majority of the movie cashflow

Neutral

DrXym @ Nov 19th 2008 4:35AM

Petty or not, these sort of contract disputes happen all the time. This is one reason why streaming is best suited for rentals, not purchases. You could "buy" a movie from a streaming service and discover it's no longer there because the parties have fallen out or the contracts have expired.

Sony and Netflix probably signed a contract which had a get-out clause if movies were streamed to a "competing device". I doubt Sony is alone in this matter. I bet if you were privy to the contracts they had signed with studios, or with Microsoft you would find plenty of other clauses. For example why is Netflix "exclusively" streaming to the 360 and not the PS3? Probably because of an exclusivity clause in the MS contract.

Neutral

Fanboy and pissed! @ Nov 19th 2008 5:33AM

Typical sony, dirty rotten low down filthy mongrel dogs, again trying to manipulate the market place and dictate consumer choice, I hope they burn!
Does MS support BR yet? I seem to remember hearing support for windows was now available or coming soon, whats the bet if sony don't re think this bull shit decision MS will wield a big stick that will certainly hurt sony far more than what they are trying to do now with this f****d strategy.
i hope sony burns and blu ray along with it!

Low Ranked

jason @ Nov 19th 2008 7:59AM

Awesome lol, I guess when this is on the PS3 Microsoft will block all their...ooops, guess not.

Neutral

jason @ Nov 19th 2008 8:01AM

Ok, terrrrrrribly bias, but that is my first reaction.

Neutral

Ordeith @ Nov 19th 2008 2:00PM

Let me finish that for you..

..operating systems from being distributed with the Sony VAIO line.

Neutral

inteller @ Nov 19th 2008 8:11AM

horrible horrible PR move. I know they just lost me as a customer for anything, TVs, PS3s, phones.....you screwed the pooch sony.

Highest Ranked

engage @ Nov 19th 2008 8:15AM

It's this kind of behavior that makes people hate corporations altogether. Way to go Sony, pissing off the Xbox community and rubbing more salt in the wounds of those who would have rather seen the Microsoft/HD DVD alliance prevail in the format war.

Wasn't this the same company that blasted Toshiba for not coming aboard when THEY had most of the studios in their pocket for the BDA? And, do they not see that this may just drive more people to buy an Xbox 360, just to see what all this "NXE" fuss is about? Makes me somewhat ashamed to be a PS3 owner. Too bad Microsoft doesn't own any major movie studios (yet). I'd love to to see Sony's reaction if MS were to pull the same s@%t for their video rental service!

BTW, this Netflix feature must be huge; I keep getting messages from the site saying come back in two hours, which will probably not change until tomorrow, LOL.

Lowest Ranked

Greg @ Nov 19th 2008 8:20AM

Sounds like business to me.
Don't see a problem throwing your wieght around and screwing with your competition.
Companies don't increase profit by being the 'nice guys'.

Highest Ranked

Fargus @ Nov 19th 2008 8:21AM

interesting move. Im surprised they dont have some weird copy protection that makes their dvd's inoperable on xbox's

Neutral

daaper @ Nov 19th 2008 8:46AM

That's not the point of the move. This service is available exclusively on the 360 for the time being, DVDs can be played on either machine. I'm sure this will change once the service is available on both machines.

Neutral

squiggleslash @ Nov 19th 2008 9:52AM

daaper - the way I'm reading it is that this doesn't just apply to HD Netflix. Sony are preventing all of their titles via streaming Netflix from playing on the XBox, regardless of whether they're titles that are SD, and therefore playable on the LG BD300 and Roku, or HD and therefore only playable on the '360 for the next few days.

So the comparison with DVD is correct. This is a tad like Sony putting in code on a DVD to prevent it from playing on an XBox or HD DVD player. Sony, of course, will not do that, not because they don't want to sabotage the '360, but because they'd almost certainly not be allowed to describe the disc as a DVD and many retailers would dump them.

This is a disappointing, and frankly childish, move on the part of Sony. I guess the XBox is looking just a tad more competitive these days, and they do want to sabotage the one serious advantage it has over the PS3 in terms of movie watching.

Neutral

daaper @ Nov 19th 2008 10:08AM

So then maybe this is more Sony putting pressure on Netflix to try to get the exclusivity clause broken. It's a feature that they can't provide and this is probably the only leverage they have on them. I still don't blame them for trying.

Highest Ranked

daaper @ Nov 19th 2008 10:17AM

In fact, I'm more upset with Netflix at the moment anyways. Their HD content goes exclusive to the 360 first? I can't even stream it on my computer? That's just BS. This exclusivity crap pisses me off more than anything. If they can temporarily make HD content exclusive to the 360, then why can't Sony temporarily make their content exclusive to the computer? I don't really see the difference...

Neutral

squiggleslash @ Nov 19th 2008 10:47AM

daaper - Why would Sony place leverage on the exclusivity clause given it's not permanent? Netflix has already made it clear that HD streaming to other boxes such as the Roku will follow soon after the XBox release. The deal with Microsoft is that they're the FIRST to offer HD Netflix streaming, not the ONLY party to do so.

This has nothing to do with the exclusivity clause so far as I can tell.

Highest Ranked

daaper @ Nov 19th 2008 11:01AM

Who said that this situation was permanent? Why couldn't Sony being doing this until their HD content is available everywhere and not just on the 360? This situation is basically giving the 360 users exclusive Netflix access to Sony's HD films. How does that have nothing to do with the exclusivity clause?

Highly Ranked

squiggleslash @ Nov 19th 2008 11:27AM

Daaper - So because Microsoft is first, by a matter of weeks, Sony has ordered Netflix to withdraw all their Sony titles from being playable on XBoxes?

What you're arguing, that Sony has decided to have a hissy fit because of a temporary "being first" thing on Microsoft's part, actually makes it look even more childish.

I really seriously doubt this has anything to do with Microsoft being first out the door with Netflix HD streaming. It would be an astonishingly ridiculous triviality for Sony to throw a wobbly over.

Neutral

daaper @ Nov 19th 2008 11:46AM

"So because Microsoft is first, by a matter of weeks, Sony has ordered Netflix to withdraw all their Sony titles from being playable on XBoxes?"

I'm not arguing that it was the right thing for them to do, but you can't deny that it was well-timed. Whether or not it's temporary or permanent, they are taking a little bit away from the 360's exclusivity.

"What you're arguing, that Sony has decided to have a hissy fit because of a temporary "being first" thing on Microsoft's part, actually makes it look even more childish."

Of course it would be a childish thing to do. Why would I care if I'm making it sound like a childish move? It's not like companies haven't done trivial, petty things before -some even more than this would be- all in the name of competition.

"I really seriously doubt this has anything to do with Microsoft being first out the door with Netflix HD streaming. It would be an astonishingly ridiculous triviality for Sony to throw a wobbly over."

I guess we'll have to wait and see. Neither one of us has any inside knowledge, so we're just making conjectures anyways.

Highly Ranked

daaper @ Nov 19th 2008 8:43AM

Am I the only one who laughed when I read this? Big deal...as others have said, it's just more corporate games. MS signs an exclusivity clause with Netflix that the streaming service comes out on their box first, so Sony says, "fine, but not our movies..." Can you really blame them? Sure does fire up the fanboys, though....which kinda makes it even more funny.

Highly Ranked

Aaron B. @ Nov 19th 2008 8:54AM

Personally, I'm a neutral party in all of this console wars nonsense. I own a 360, but wouldn't mind having a PS3, if I had the extra cash. And while I enjoy my 360, I was nonplussed by HD-DVD, and was glad to see the technically superior Blu-ray win the format war.

I have no desire to see either company do poorly. To the contrary; I hope they both continue to challenge each other, and I hope that pushes them to excel in their own ways.

Unfortunately, this does make the Netflix subscription that I had been considering less appealing to me.

From my point of view, the loser in this is Netflix, and I can only hope they will petition Sony to stop the embargo. More movies available to stream over Live means more potential new customers for Netflix.

Neutral

Johnny Neat @ Nov 19th 2008 9:50AM

I thought Netflix and MS had this base covered as any knowledgeable person would know Sony or anyone else in one way or another would run this game. But let's face it, this was a sound business move but a horrible public relations one.

Netflix needs to throw some extra pennies at Sony and Sony needs to get it together overall.
They have yet to truly restructure in my opinion and as their new head man has said they would and need to to compete more logically.

As I have told anyone who wants to listen, Sony has become a huge bloated Hydra that would bite one of its own heads to get a meal instead of sharing and creating corporate synergy. Case in point: The way Sony divisions have handled their Blu-Ray & entertainment properties on the PS3. With so many heads/departments/divisions trying to get a piece of the same pie, the whole of Sony has been hurt economically and intellectually.

MS may have rushed out the gate on their second gen system, causing a billion to be lost along with customer assurance, but they have worked out so much better in getting some sense of synergy to be forced out to the consumer. It may all be a fiscade by how MS handles pricing & DRM but that's the old corporate structure most go for, no?

Anyhow before anything is replied, I own all three systems, like HD Blu-ray & its potential, never tried one HD-DVD even though I believe they were programmed better, enjoy LIVE over PSN and the Wii Channels, love my Samsung A750 LCD over anything Sony has along with Mac's OS over MS' and this can go on and on.

Neutral

The Fuzz 53 @ Nov 19th 2008 9:48AM

Sony had got to be the biggest douche bag, brain-collection of fucktards every compiled. What idiots.

Neutral

Androly-San @ Nov 19th 2008 1:10PM

Sooo... Microsoft buying off developers to get exclusives is ok, but Sony not letting them profit from their movies is not? That's some retarded logic right there.

Neutral

squiggleslash @ Nov 19th 2008 2:58PM

Yes, I'm sure someone on another planet somewhere, probably in another century, is making that exact same argument.

If you have any straw left over, perhaps you'd like to make a model of Darren Murph?

Neutral

lee @ Nov 19th 2008 11:02AM

That is just plain wrong. Stop being a baby Sony!!

Neutral

Brad Clarke @ Nov 19th 2008 11:33AM

Stop your whining, if you owned a company, why in the hell would you want to provide your content to your competition. It is kinda how Halo is only for the xbox, if Microsoft wanted to license it out there exclusive games to there competition they would, but why dont they? because it give people a reason to buy there system. So Sony has ever right to not license there movies out to there competition. Think of it as an exclusive game.

Its all corporate politics, quite your whining, you people act as if this si the only way you can watch the movies.

Highly Ranked

DEEZNUTZ @ Nov 19th 2008 1:19PM

Fail

That's like saying that MS should not provide Sony with Windows Vista, Office, etc for their VAIO laptops.

What you're saying would also apply to Samsung BD players that are supposed to also stream Netflix soon no? Sony and Samsung both make BD players...

This smells like a case of sour grapes on Sony's part simply due to the fact that MS was able to roll out an even better online experience than Sony could ever dream up. Home is a joke that promised much and has yet to deliver. Sony needs to stop the BS and not make themselves look like douchebags. It will backfire on them.

Highly Ranked

Gus @ Nov 19th 2008 8:19PM

Well said Deez, we agree for a change :)

Neutral

Bradley Clarke @ Nov 19th 2008 11:39AM

Neutral

squiggleslash @ Nov 19th 2008 12:35PM

> if you owned a company, why in the hell would you want to provide your content to your competition

To make money?

It's not as if Netflix is streaming any of this for free. They're paying suppliers money.

Moreover, there's nothing stopping Sony from providing access to Netflix. They choose not to. Then they throw a hissy fit when others do. If Sony wanted to "stick it to Microsoft", they'd improve the PS3, not try to damage the XBox.

It's a pathetic move from a company that only seems to know how to tear things down.

Neutral

mntwister @ Nov 19th 2008 12:53PM

Well, let's all face it, if we were CEO of Sony, or in a position to make this decision, we would ALL have done the same thing. You guys who are whining about this, look at business and reality, Sony is protecting THEIR game and movie machine and have the right to do it with their library. It's a good move for them, unfortunate for the x-box users. That's life, that's business.

Neutral

Spiza @ Nov 19th 2008 5:52PM

MS should release all their first party titles like Halo for the PS3. They would definitely make more money on software that way, just like Sony could make more money on their movies.

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