Netflix has made some changes to its API and Terms of Use on Friday, which seemed to imply that the service could no longer be made exclusively available for Xbox Live Gold (paying) members.
Netflix is not available to free Silver members, but that’s not the case on PS3 or other streaming devices, but Microsoft has kept Netflix Gold exclusive.
The quote below shows the change in Terms of Use.
“charge, directly or indirectly, any fee (including any unique, specific, or premium charges) for access to the Content or your integration of the APIs in your Application, or use the APIs to build an enterprise application (e.g., that you distribute to other companies);”
So some poeple started to wonder whether would Netflix force Microsoft to make it avaliable to Silver Users?
Netflix told GiantBomb this afternoon that will not be the case.
“This change to our API program has no impact on our device partners like Microsoft,” said a Netflix spokeperson. “It also will have no impact on anyone who develops applications and sells those directly to consumers. The updated terms of use only restrict business-to-business type transactions.”
The change was made to prevent companies from scraping Netflix’s proprietary data and then selling it. But a company that’s uses Netflix’s API to surface Netflix-driven data and charges consumers to download that application is a-ok.
Also Netflix doesn’t consider its service on Xbox Live as “third-party,” so the rules wouldn’t matter.
I still find it odd that Microsoft still doesn’t offer Netflix without the need of Gold. Maybe because those who would use Netflix on the Xbox 360 already have a Gold subscription. It used to make more sense when it had the party feature but now that its gone it should be available for free.
