Netflix now available in Canada
The big news on the interwebs today is the launch of Netflix in Canada. www.netflix.ca
For those that don’t know, Netflix is an internet movie subscription service that allows viewers to watch unlimited* TV shows and movies for $7.99 per month. These movies/shows can be watched on your computer, or streamed on TV through PS3, Wii, and several other internet-connected devices. (Access through XBox 360 is coming this fall, but will require an paid Gold level account – boo-urn Microsoft, boo-urns!) You can even watch Netflix on your iPad or iPhone.
The catalog listed on their website has a wide selection of movies, but not much in the way of new releases or Will Farrell movies. Not many movies I searched for were available, but there are a few gems mixed in with the plethora of B-rate garbage (Seven Samurai, Primer & Gattaca).
Netflix also won’t be showing a lot of new TV shows, but again, there is still a few goodies available from the last few years. (Mad Men, Justified) and apparently Canada will be getting at least one new show that the US won’t: Running Wilde.
There is certainly enough good stuff in their current catalog to merit the very low price of $7.99 per month, which is about the same price as 1 HD movie ordered through Shaw’s Video-on-demand movie service.
For those of you like me that don’t care much about watching sports or Dancing with America’s Fattest Survivor, Netflix is a great alternative to the bloated wallet-sucker that is packaged cable. But before you cut your cable entirely, keep in mind that your internet provider caps your monthly download limit. A good rule of thumb is 1 hour of programing = 1 GB; my current internet package caps at 75GB, which means I’m limited to about 2 hours a day (excluding my other online habits).
Personally, between Netflix and streaming TV on local website, I’m not really seeing the need for cable anymore. I’ll let you know how it goes.
* some sources are putting quotes around ‘unlimited’ and I’m not sure why – its either unlimited or its not?!
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