Netflix Pushes Web-Delivered Movies with Carvey Spoof
Netflix will turn comedian Dana Carvey loose on about a dozen classic movies in a free online screening this weekend of a video made to promote the company’s “instant viewing” service.
“Netflix Now Playing ‘Down in Front with Dana Carvey’” features Carvey riffing on clips from 11 classic films from “North by Northwest” and “Singin’ in the Rain” to “Soylent Green” and “The Exorcist”.
The video is intended to demonstrate both the range of movies Netflix makes available for instant viewing over the Internet on a laptop or PC, and to familiarize current or prospective members with the technology, which lets most users start watching the movie 30 seconds after requesting it, avoiding long download waits.
“We’re thrilled to join forces with Dana to showcase, as only he can, the pleasure of watching high-quality video instantly over the Internet,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement. “We’re also thrilled that a number of our major studio partners have contributed clips of the movies, which helps make the production a unique tribute to cinema’s classics.”
The Carvey movie will be available from 12:01 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Friday Oct. 12 through midnight PDT on Oct. 13. Viewers can access the movie at http://www.netflix.com/netflixnowplaying/
Netflix launched instant viewing back in January and rolled the service out to all subscribers in June. In August, the company announced that Netflix member had watched 10 million movies and TV episodes on their PCs or laptops via instant viewing.
The electronic delivery service is free to subscribers, but service levels are based on their subscription plans. Subscribers on the entry-level $5.99 per month plan can watch six hours of online movies each month, while subscribers paying $17.99—the company’s most popular monthly plan—can view 18 hours of online movies in that period.
