Netflix launches movie set-top box

Netflix is going to sell a $99 box that will let subscribers get access to movies instantly instead of waiting for the DVD to show up in the mail. So now it’s instant instead of a few days. Apart from the one-time cost of the paperback book-sized hardware, you won’t pay anything more than your normal subscription fee.

Just one downside – you will only have access to approximately 10% of Netflix’s entire catalog. Somehow I bet Netflix will do a good job of deciding what movies to place into circulation for the set-top box.

This reminds me very much of Moviebeam which failed primarily in my opinion for not only having a severely restricted offering of movies, but having it dictated to me. At any given time, there were very few Moviebeam movies that I was interested in. RIP Moviebeam. Let’s see if Netflix learns from your mistakes.