The Netflix Player Greg Sandoval of CNET’s News.com has published an editorial on what Netflix needs to do with their extremely popular Roku Netflix player - get the latest movies onto that box. I wholeheartedly agree with that notion! Every single review of the player has basically said the same thing - the service needs the latest movies available for rent and not just the limited 10,000 movies and shows that make up the current inventory. Of course Netflix has a number of solutions that they can embark on but thus far, they’ve been hesitant to do anything about it. Word to the wise at Netflix - you’ve got yourself a hit with this player - now capitalize on it. As Mr. Sandoval points out, “you don’t want to fall behind to Apple.”

It’s clear that video on demand will continue to proliferate throughout the industry. A number of factors are coming together to make this all possible. You have cheap broadband, a need to switch to digital TV which is resulting in new purchases of HDTV sets, and of course cheap computing equipment.  All of these factor leads to the inevitable conclusion that your standard family is or will be very connected and that DVD rentals will be a thing of the past in a few years.

While no one really knows how successful Apple TV is, one can imagine that Apple will continue to push forward with this market. If only to make sure to keep Microsoft in check with this market with the Xbox 360. Plus let’s not forget about Sony and the PlayStation 3. And of course you have players in the form of cable companies and small independent startups all trying to get into the mix. Just looking at the players in the market alone, it’s clear that video on demand will be big .. but who will rule the roost at the end of the day?

Netflix in many ways is perfectly positioned to do so. The company already has a huge user audience. It also has cash in the bank. It just now needs to think outside of the box and work with the Hollywood studios. Experiment with different options or payment systems. See what the market is willing to bare.

Here’s a thought Netflix: If I’m willing to pay $3.99 to $4.99 for the latest HD rentals via Apple TV (and I certainly am!), then I’d be more than willing to do the same via Netflix. So listen to Mr. Sandoval’s thoughts and get on it! The public will want it… if they don’t already!

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