In less than 24 hours, two major announcements took place that promise to reshape the streaming video market and in the process, perhaps do to DVDs what digital music is doing to the CD industry.

Yesterday, the DVD rental company Netflix announced that it was lifting nearly all restrictions on the streaming of movies by subscribers (the lowest subscription tier, at $4.99 per month, will still be limited to just two hours per month).

“In talking with members about our streaming feature during the past year,” Netflix Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Kilgore said, “it became clear that, as with DVDs, the concept of streaming unlimited movies and TV episodes on a PC resonated quite strongly. And we’re now in a good position to offer that.”

Swamped by Apple?

Netflix boasts more than 90,000 titles, 6,000 of which are downloadable without restriction now that limits have been lifted. To remain competitive, Netflix lifted limits and retooled its DVD-by-mail

business model, which was increasingly threatened by streaming movies from competitors.

Initially, that threat had been slow to develop in large part due to studio concerns about the impact of downloads on sales of DVDs and movie tickets, as well as consumer preference for watching movies on higher-resolution televisions instead of PCs. But with the growing quality of downloads, better laptop screens, and the increased ability to watch downloads on a multitude of devices, those objections are fading.

The pace of downloads may accelerate, however, thanks to the announcement by Steve Jobs at Macworld that Apple’s iTunes Store will start offering major Hollywood films for download — and there’s no question at whom Apple is taking aim.

“iTunes Movie Rentals instantly brings great movies from all the major studios directly to your iPod, iPhone, TV or computer — without having to drive to the video store or wait for DVDs…

Orginal post by Top Tech News