, another brand steps up and begins offering stuff folks really want. Starting today, Netflix will start offering streaming movies for free to subscribers.

On Tuesday, Mr. Hastings will begin to answer that question. Netflix is introducing a service to deliver movies and television shows directly to users’ PCs, not as downloads but as streaming video, which is not retained in computer memory. The service, which is free to Netflix subscribers, is meant to give the company a toehold in the embryonic world of Internet movie distribution.

The current catalog consists of about 1,000 movies and only works — shudder — under Windows. Folks with $18 subscriptions can watch 18 hours of movies a month along with the standard three DVDs at any one time. One interesting point:

“The market is microscopic,” [Netflix CEO] Mr. Hastings said. “DVD is going to be a very big market for a very long time.”

Yeah, right. Anyway, good work, Netflix. Thank you for understanding that IP content is going to blow both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray out of the picture.

Netflix to Deliver Movies to the PC