Surprise: DirecTV May Be Planning Netflix-Like Streaming Service

We've been reporting in recent months about the various companies hoping to position themselves to knock Netflix off its perch. Now there's a new development that suggests that DirecTV is gearing up to challenge Netflix at its own game. Digital media blog Zatz Not Funny has hipped folks to the fact that DirecTV has sent some of its customers a web survey that includes some telling questions.

Amongst the usual questions about subscriber usage and whatnot, the survey also includes a section asking customers to "evaluate a new service that DirecTV is thinking about offering to their customers." That service is described as a "streaming-only...service for a flat fee per month." They even specifically describe this new service as "Netflix-like." It certainly sounds a lot like Netflix's streaming plans, offering older movies and past seasons of television shows. It's unclear whether this service would also provide more recent movies, as Netflix's current deal with Starz does.

You can click over to Zatz Not Funny for more details, and to see screen caps of the survey. It will be interesting to see what DirecTV has to offer, but it does beg the question: when you can't describe your new service without name-checking the distinguished competition, does that mean Netflix has already won?