Netflix Goes Blue

But subscription services still reign

(NEWSER) - Movie rental kiosks' market share surpassed that of retail stores in 2010, a study finds: Kiosks such as Redbox hosted 31% of third-quarter rentals, while 27% were from actual stores. Subscription services had the biggest market share, with 41%. Kiosks' market share grew 10 percentage points year-over-year, while stores dropped to 27% from 40%; subscription service rentals climbed just two points, Mashable reports. The NPD study looked only at physical disc rentals—not streaming or downloading services. More»

It's going after HBO, Showtime for new titles

(NEWSER) - Netflix will make more new movies available for instant viewing online at it slowly goes after TV pay channels such as HBO and Showtime. Netflix signed a deal with Relativity Media, a small film production company to get exclusive access to its movies after the theater runs. Upcoming films in the deal include The Fighter, with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, and Season of the Witch with Nicolas Cage, reports the LA Times . More»

(NEWSER) - Like 10.6 million Americans, Time film critic Richard Corliss has a subscription to Netflix, which sends everything from Bollywood megamusicals to BBC miniseries to his mailbox. "No question," Corliss admits, "Netflix serves a need"—it's super cheap and stocked with titles. But the DVD delivery service has killed off independent stores run by Tarantino-like obsessives, while we turn into "those blobby people in WALL•E." More»

Disciplined growth has helped it through many setbacks

(NEWSER) - Despite plenty of naysayers, Netflix boasts success like few other dot-coms, Chris O’Brien writes in the San Jose Mercury News. The movie-rental service reported record earnings despite the recession, “a neat trick that eBay and Yahoo could only dream of emulating.” Netflix’s innovative distribution system, inventory management, and prescient web-to-TV video streams have won it a permanent spot on the cutting edge. More»

Movie maker says it has 'an obligation' to stick with Toshiba's HD DVD

(NEWSER) - Despite the fact that Toshiba lost its war with Sony’s Blu-ray disc technology, DreamWorks Animation says it plans to release its upcoming movies in the HD DVD format, unless it hears otherwise from Toshiba, Reuters reports. DreamWorks’ “Bee Movie” is scheduled for release in March. The studio said it asked the Japanese manufacturer “What would you like us to do?” More»