According to MTV, Sony has refused to allow films published by Sony Pictures Entertainment subsidiary Columbia Pictures to be watched via the Netflix streaming service on Microsoft’s New Xbox Experience (NXE). The restriction applies only to Xbox 360 users – you can still stream SPE products from your Mac, PC or other Netflix-enabled devices.
As MTV points out, this could be attributed to the mere expiration of Microsoft’s license, but the timing of the withdrawal – NXE goes live today – feels a bit too good to be true. The phrase "throwing a spanner in the works" comes to mind.
“In the case of Xbox 360, a few hundred titles are temporarily unavailable to be streamed via the Xbox game console,” Netflix Vice President of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey told MTV in an email. “Those titles are still available to be watched on subscribers’ computers and on TVs via other partner devices, and we hope they’ll be licensed for Xbox 360 shortly.”
"As watching instantly becomes a more prominent part of the Netflix service, our goal is to have all of our streaming content licensed for all of our partner devices,” he went on. “We’re doing well in this area, but it will take some time before we fully achieve that goal. Today, titles regularly come in and out of license and there is a natural ebb and flow to what we have on license at any given point in time.”