Don’t Cross The Streams: A Look At The Battle Between On-Demand Rental Services, Netflix and LOVEFiLM

“We offer a much better user experience than Lovefilm,” said Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, upon the launch of the typically-US rental streaming service in the UK earlier this month. “[We have] HD video streams, we are on more platforms, such as Nintendo Wii, and we have a broader content offering.” With just a couple of publicity-sodden sentences, Hastings’ intentions were blindingly obvious: he had kick-started the bid to become the UK’s biggest film and TV on-demand service, looking to overthrow the Amazon-owned Lovefilm on its own turf. Having enjoyed the delights of Netflix for nearly a month now, we felt it the perfect time to reflect on our own streaming habits and highlight the advantages, or indeed disadvantages, of the service. But rather than merely perform a clear-cut review, we’re putting it up against current UK favourite Lovefilm and its own on-demand package (ignoring its by-post service) to crown what we believe to be the best streaming deal out there at the moment.