I have now mentioned in two posts that the exclusive arrangement between Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Netflix which affords the viewer realtime HD video on demand streaming of over ten thousand titles, would pose a real threat to Sony and overpriced Blu-Ray.  Well Sony has demonstrated this to be true by blocking its (Columbia) catalog from streaming via Netflix as Xbox 360’s New Xbox Experience goes live this morning.

As reported at Xbox 360 Fanboy:

“According to Joystiq (and confirmed by MTV Multiplayer) Netflix has pulled all Columbia Pictures content from the Xbox 360 instant view library due to “licensing problems.” But, wouldn’t you know, all the blocked content can still be viewed online and through all other Netflix enabled TV devices except for the 360.

Netflix hopes to license all the currently blocked content to the Xbox 360 in the near future.”

Sony is known for its less-than-scrupulous turf wars, often upsetting consumers by viture of its insistence upon proprietary hardware and codecs.