[WinFan1]

I think in my humble opinion that microsoft should work to create a video streaming service and bring it to all their products similar to a xbox music pass. xbox video pass will for a monthly fee of say $20 bucks bring unblocked usage of any movie in their video catalogue. they have a better selection than netflix, more money so they dont have to worry about movie guys raising the licensing rights for it. and a media console that is a worldwide bestseller as well as a successor to it that can be optimized for it.

What do you guys think? ^_^

[Cleavitt76]

I like the idea, but I also think Microsoft needs to focus on other core business. MS has a lot going on right now. In the past several months they have released dramatically new versions of nearly all of their major products (enterprise included). While the changes are great for the most part, they still have a lot of polishing that needs to be done. It may not be a good time for them to try to expand into other markets. A parnership with the existing big players might be easier to pull off. For example, XBox video pass that gives you access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Video through a common portal/app. Of course they would have to share the subscription fee with those companies, but over time they could add in their own content and scale back the third party costs.

[Laura Knotek]

It would have to offer a lot more than Netflix to justify such expensive pricing. Most consumers would stay with an $8/month service, rather than paying 2½ times as much.

[WinFan1]

It would have to offer a lot more than Netflix to justify such expensive pricing. Most consumers would stay with an $8/month service, rather than paying 2½ times as much.

well if you go to xbox video with your xbox they already have a better much more up to date selection than what netflix currently offers. on netflix for 8 bucks a month you barely get anything at all, let alone new movies and shows. what they have in their catalogue is miles ahead of netflix all they have to due is make a subscription to said service make it available to multple places and devices and charge a good price. but i do agree with cleavitt they are quite burdened with improvements and polishing of all their newly released software and products.

[Cleavitt76]

well if you go to xbox video with your xbox they already have a better much more up to date selection than what netflix currently offers. on netflix for 8 bucks a month you barely get anything at all, let alone new movies and shows. what they have in their catalogue is miles ahead of netflix all they have to due is make a subscription to said service make it available to multple places and devices and charge a good price. but i do agree with cleavitt they are quite burdened with improvements and polishing of all their newly released software and products.

Actually, I didn't realize that they already had competitive content and the infrastructure in place. I don't own an xbox. I thought you were talking about building all of that. If it's just a matter of changing their payment model or providing more options then I totally agree that they should offer a subscription service. Apparently they should also market it a little better too.

So what are they doing currently? Charging per video? Is it only available via xbox or is there a Windows viewer for it as well? I feel like I'm missing out now.

[Laura Knotek]

well if you go to xbox video with your xbox they already have a better much more up to date selection than what netflix currently offers. on netflix for 8 bucks a month you barely get anything at all, let alone new movies and shows. what they have in their catalogue is miles ahead of netflix all they have to due is make a subscription to said service make it available to multple places and devices and charge a good price. but i do agree with cleavitt they are quite burdened with improvements and polishing of all their newly released software and products.

I don't own an Xbox console and have no plans to ever purchase one.

[WinFan1]

Actually, I didn't realize that they already had competitive content and the infrastructure in place. I don't own an xbox. I thought you were talking about building all of that. If it's just a matter of changing their payment model or providing more options then I totally agree that they should offer a subscription service. Apparently they should also market it a little better too.

So what are they doing currently? Charging per video? Is it only available via xbox or is there a Windows viewer for it as well? I feel like I'm missing out now.

yeah they do they charge for renting in hd, sd, and buying in hd. they currently use microsoft points as a form of payment. i feel if they changed this and made it available to multiple devices than you have a viable alternative to the horror that is netflix.

[WinFan1]

I don't own an Xbox console and have no plans to ever purchase one.

thats why they should make it available on smart tvs and blu rays and google tv boxes. they could generate alot of revenue if done right + they would increase awareness of xbox branding and possible bring more people to the console and increase the amount of awareness for xbox music. i think people are so brainwashed into thinking that itunes is the only source for their media xbox could be way bigger than gaming if they actually capitalized on what they already have.

[Simon Tupper]

Microsoft to get huge datacentre in China | ZDNet

This is looking good for Microsoft's cloud and internet services.

[socialcarpet]

It would have to offer a lot more than Netflix to justify such expensive pricing. Most consumers would stay with an $8/month service, rather than paying 2½ times as much.

Agreed.

I'd be willing to pay $20/month as long as it was accessible on any of my devices (Mac OS X, Android, Windows Phone and Roku) and if it included a lot of the more popular new releases that Netflix doesn't seem to be able to secure these days. Without that though, there isn't enough "meat on the bone" for me to join. Between Netflix and Amazon video that comes with my Prime account, I'm pretty much covered with good cross-platform solutions.

[BIGPADDY]

Lovefilm good for movies

[arieleem21]

Well your idea is quite good yet $20 per month I think not all can afford.

[WinFan1]

Well your idea is quite good yet $20 per month I think not all can afford.

look at it this way microsofts catalogue is better than netflix' catalogue and people pay 18 dollars for the renting of 2 dvds and unlimited streaming. Though the only reason people rent the dvds is because some movies are not allowed to stream and therefore you need the dvds. if microsoft keeps their catalogue up to date they can charge the same thing but with the added incentive of not needing to deal with sending movies back.