Update on Netflix coming to PS3

Jessie Becker here, VP Marketing. We know many of you are excited about being able to instantly watch movies and TV episodes via your PS3, and we’re excited as well. Today we shipped instant streaming discs for PS3 to about 100,000 Netflix members who requested them. After we tune a few more details, we expect to ship to everyone else within a couple of weeks. We’ll send you an email as soon as we ship your instant streaming disc. Keep checking here for updates as well.

Netflix coming to PS3

Greg Peters, VP of product development at Netflix, here. We’ve got good news for PS3 owners! Soon you will be able to instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV via your PS3. Today we announced that the PS3 is about to join the ever growing list of Netflix ready devices that allow streaming of movies and TV episodes whenever you want, as much as you want, all included in your unlimited Netflix subscription. The PS3 is a terrific Blu-ray and gaming platform that will get even better in November when we start streaming thousands of movies and TV episodes!

Horror Legend Roger Corman Teams with Netflix this Halloween Season

Fenot Tekle here from the Netflix communications team. We’re excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with legendary horror filmmaker Roger Corman to create a series of Webisodes which will launch on October 29. Roger has chosen Netflix as the vehicle to make his online debut with “Splatter,” a three-part Web series debuting two days before Halloween and then concluding on Friday the 13th of November.

We’re inviting all of America to instantly stream “Splatter” for free on their computers by going to www.netflix.com/splatter. Netflix members with an unlimited plan will be able watch it directly on their TVs at the conclusion of the series through the variety of Netflix ready devices in the marketplace.

“Splatter” is the haunting tale of rock-and-roll legend Johnny Splatter, a musical genius whose sudden death has brought a small circle of “frenemies” to a mansion for the reading of his will. All came expecting a windfall, but when Johnny rises from the dead to seek gruesome revenge, they soon find out they’ll be getting a lot more than they bargained for. The Webisodes were produced by Roger and Julie Corman, directed by Joe Dante and star Corey Feldman in the title role of Johnny Splatter. The series will launch on October 29, with the second installment scheduled for November 6 and the concluding episode slated for November 13.

In an unprecedented plot twist, Roger is opening up the creative direction of the series by giving viewers the power to choose who lives and dies, making the outcome purely driven by audience participation.

For more information on the series, visit www.netflix.com/splatter. We welcome you to watch and vote and enjoy the fright-fest that is “Splatter!”

Netflix Prize: $1 Million Paid, Another Million Now Up For Grabs

After nearly three years and efforts by more than 51,000 people worldwide, Netflix today awarded the Netflix Prize and $1 million to a team of seven engineers, statisticians and researchers from Austria, Canada, Israel and the U.S.

The team "BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos" leaderboard met face-to-face for the first time this morning before a news conference at which Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt named them winners, draped Olympic-size "gold" medals around their necks and handed them a check for $1 million. Their collaborative entry had taken place entirely over the net.

Moments later Neil announced details about Netflix Prize 2.

The contest ended in July with moments of real drama. Engineers at Netflix watched in amazement as the contest came down to the last few minutes when the winning team just edged out "The Ensemble," many of whose members were present at the New York award ceremony.

Netflix Prizemasters Stan Lanning and Jon Sanders have been extremely pleased how participants openly offered advice, information, ideas, and even libraries of code on the Prize Forum pages. The final result is a benefit to Netflix members as the movie predictions we make for you will be twice as good as before.

While the final curtain has come down on the Prize, Neil lifted the curtain a bit on the upcoming new Netflix Prize 2 contest. It will focus more on helping customers early in their experience with Netflix, drawing on many more sources of data to try to find just the right movies.

For more information on the winning entry for the original Prize and the new Netflix Prize 2 contest check out http://www.netflixprize.com.

Concert, Screenings and Free Streaming … Oh, My! Celebrate a Cinematic Classic with Netflix

Catherine Fisher from the Netflix communications team here. It’s been 70 years since Dorothy clicked her heels together and reminded us that there’s no place like home. To help celebrate, Netflix is inviting all of America to instantly watch “The Wizard of Oz” for free online at www.netflix.com/wizardofoz for 24 hours beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, October 3rd through 9:00 a.m. Eastern the following day. If you are a Netflix member and have a Netflix ready device you will be able to instantly watch the film in HD – watch out for the flying monkeys! This will be the first time that a movie of this stature will be streamed uninterrupted and for free over the Internet. You can RSVP to our event on Facebook to receive a reminder.

Netflix will also host a free, live concert and outdoor movie screening on Tuesday, September 29th, in New York City’s Central Park at Rumsey Playfield. The concert will feature songs from “The Wizard of Oz” performed by Jennifer Hudson, Julianne Hough and ?uestlove. Following the concert, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m., the movie will be shown on a giant inflatable screen.

For more information on the 70th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz” and how to take advantage of this special streaming offer, visit www.netflix.com/wizardofoz or www.facebook.com/netflix.

We hope you enjoy the movie on October 3rd and that we will see you in NYC for a great concert and screening!

Winner of Netflix FIND Your Voice film competition announced

After nine months of heated competition, 2,000 applications, some extraordinary scripts, tens of thousands of votes from the public, and review by our panel of judges chaired by Josh Brolin, the verdict is in.

We are thrilled to announce that Philip G. Flores of Hemet, CA is the winner of the “Netflix FIND Your Voice” filmmaking competition. Phillip will receive a prize package worth more than $350,000 to make his film “Touchback.” The package also includes a premiere screening of the film at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2010 and distribution on Netflix.

To watch the winning trailer and learn more about the “Netflix FIND Your Voice” film competition, see the official news release or visit www.netflixfindyourvoice.com.

Congratulations, Philip!

Chris Garrity
Netflix communications

Xbox LIVE Update

Hi, Pedro Freitas here from Netflix product development.

Available today, you will be able to browse and add movies and TV episodes to your instant Queue directly from your Xbox 360. The new Xbox LIVE Update will take advantage of the Netflix recommended category lists of titles that can be watched instantly.

You can also bring your Xbox LIVE Party into Netflix and watch a movie or TV show together with up to seven friends. The improved presence will display what you and your friends are watching in the Friends channel.

In addition, playback has been improved to ensure a better experience when adapting to changing network conditions.

Enjoy the movies!

“Lost,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Legend of the Seeker” from ABC available to stream instantly from Netflix

Hi there, it’s Lynn Tran from the Netflix PR team. If you are a LOSTIE, love a little suburban or young-hip doctor drama, or if epic fantasy is your thing, then we have some good news for you! Starting today, the first four seasons of “LOST” and select seasons of “Desperate Housewives” and “Legend of the Seeker” will be available to be streamed instantly on your computer and to your TV via a Netflix ready device. Plus, starting in September, we’ll also have season five of critically-acclaimed “Grey’s Anatomy” and seasons five of both “LOST” and “Desperate Housewives.”

Netflix is constantly adding to a growing library of over 12,000 movies and TV episodes that you can watch instantly as part of your Netflix membership. And we hope that you enjoy these new additions.

Netflix Prize Competition Closes - But No Winner Announced Yet

After almost three years, and 44,014 entries from 5,169 teams in 186 countries, the Netflix Prize competition is now closed. Don't know about the Netflix Prize? Read on.

Jon Sanders here. I'm the engineer in charge of the Netflix ratings database and one of the people overseeing the Netflix Prize, which has been a world-wide competition launched in October 2006 to determine who can improve upon the Netflix recommendations system by ten percent. The contest made available to contestants 100 million anonymous movie ratings ranging from one to five stars, the largest such data set ever released. All personal information identifying individual Netflix members was removed from the prize data, which contained only movie titles, star ratings and dates but no text reviews.

The winning team will take home $1 million and Netflix members will benefit as we will incorporate the winner's technology in our recommendations system to continually improve the movie recommendations we make for you.

We'll announce the winner of the Netflix Prize in a few weeks after the submissions have been validated by a team of senior engineers from Netflix and distinguished researchers from the Machine Learning community. Stay tuned for more information, or check www.netflixprize.com if you want to get into the technical details.