On Tuesday, a new set-top made by Roku was announced by Netflix. The $99 Netflix Player gives customers access to more than 10,000 movies and TV series. As Roku's vice president of consumer products, Tim Twerdahl said, the Netflix Player represents the first stage of Roku's plan to implement its "Internet to the TV strategy," that will eventually win the competition with the "walled garden" approach, found with Apple TV and Vudu systems.

Once customers subscribe to any Netflix plan of $8.99 or more, they are ready to stream as much content as they want. According to Netflix officials, subscribers can pause and rewind streaming titles.

Netflix, Inc. of Los Gatos, CA, currently has more than eight million subscribers. The company has been doing quite well and is now making a lot more money than it used to, with earnings of $49 million in 2006 compared with a $6.5 million profit in 2003 for instance. Reuters reported a net income for the second quarter of $25.6 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with $17 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier. This figure was boosted in part by a $4.1 million settlement of a patent dispute. Also, Reuters reports that Netflix' revenue rose some 27 percent to $303.7 million, from $239.4 million in the second quarter. However, the figures are lower than analysts' expectations. On 25 February 2007, Netflix announced the delivery of its billionth DVD. The situation for 2007 looks even better.

The set-top was first unveiled at the beginning of 2008, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.