Netflix Unlimited Movie Streaming

A year ago Netflix started a movie and streaming service to compliment their DVD by mail rentals. However, there were limits on the number of hours you could download and watch each month based on the level of your DVD rental plan. You were allowed about an hour of video on demand for each dollar of your monthly plan. If you subscribed to the $17 a month DVD rental plan, you got 18 hours of “Instant Watching” on your PC each month.

Now Netflix is offering unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows for all plans except for the lowest $4.99 a month plan. The price of the plans that offer unlimited streaming starts at $8.99 a month.

Perhaps digital delivery will help solve the problems the company is having with their DVD mailing costs. The postal service has complained about the flimsy Netflix DVD mailing envelopes clogging their mail sorting machines and will start charging the company an extra 17 cents per envelope.

The announcement is made on the eve of MacWorld 2008 when Steve Jobs is expected to announce a new movie rental service tied to iTunes and perhaps a new and improved Apple TV.

And if you are a Mac user, you might want to wait. The Netflix service runs on PC only.