I wanted to test-drive The Dark Knight on Facebook, but after "liking" the movie's fan page and then agreeing to buy 30 Facebook credits (pay $3), I ran into a snag on PayPal and gave up. I'm sure it would've been a wonderful experience if I had succeeded, but I'm not too torn up that I didn't. You see, I really do not want to watch movies on Facebook and, for now at least, I doubt anyone else does, either.

I like Facebook's hubris. As always, the social-networking giant is ready to step into any and all markets. Why shouldn't you be able to view movies on Facebook? This act will most certainly be followed by others. Facebook will soon offer more films—maybe a whole film library and as many television shows as it can convince networks to post there. It'll all be rentals and the prices will obviously stay within that 30 credit range.

Up until today, I'd never even heard of Facebook Credits. Who at Facebook figured out that each credit would be worth 10 cents? You can, it turns out, buy the credits in bulk, and if you plunk down 10 bucks for 100, Facebook throws in an additional 10 for free. Credits are not new, though. Anyone who's been on the popular Facebook game Farmville is, I'm sure, quite familiar with the Facebook Credit concept—they started using them almost exactly one year ago.

This means that there are probably millions of Facebook Farmville players who can start watching The Dark Knight on Facebook today, without having to buy additional credits. But again, I have to wonder if that's what they want.

From the moment Warner Bros. announced it would allow Dark Knight fans to view the movie on the service, people started buzzing about how Facebook could hurt or kill Netflix's streaming video business. I can understand why people would say that. Facebook has over half a billion users worldwide. Netflix has over 20 million members. People visit Facebook more often than they do Netflix's Web site and more often than they use Netflix's streaming video in any given week. By offering the videos direct from the studios on an a la carte basis, Facebook is almost guaranteed a better library of movie choices than you'll find on Netflix's streaming service.

As PCMag News Director Pete Pachal noted recently, streaming services like Netflix have a huge problem when it comes to quality offerings in their streaming libraries. This is mostly because studios are still terrified of releasing new films into the digital world. Facebook's movie selections will, it appears, come directly from studios and instead of all-you can eat pricing, you will pay per film. Dark Knight costs $3 to watch, but The Adjustment Bureau could, when it's released digitally, cost $6.99 or more to view on Facebook.

It almost makes you think that Facebook is going to win. But it's not.

The near-term fundamental flaw is the screen. Netflix is winning not only because it's easy to use its all-you-can-eat, $8-a-month streaming services, but because it comes to you through a wide variety of devices that are already connected to your favorite screen in the house.

In my home, my HDTV can stream Netflix movies (as well as films from a variety of other services, including Amazon OnDemand and Vudu). My Blu-ray players share this capability. Why would I want to watch the visually spectacular Dark Knight on my laptop or desktop PC? Most people still view movie watching as a shared or family activity. We all gather in front of the HDTV to watch a classic film like Cool Hand Luke streaming from Netflix to my Sony LED. I could not get my family to gather around my computer for two hours to watch the Paul Newman classic.

Notice, though, I said "near term." This first film and access through your Web browser and PC is just phase one. Facebook has the payment system in place, they have the studio and network relationships (I think they all have fan Pages) and there are existing hardware manufacturer relationships. Many HDTV's and set-top boxes offer Facebook Widgets. What's to stop Facebook from introducing a video-streaming widget or app that Sony, Vizio, or LG could include with future sets? I do notice that most TV and Blu-ray player manufacturers are perfectly comfortable including not one, but multiple competing music, movie, and TV streaming services on the same device. That laissez–faire approach will serve Facebook well in the future.

Netflix, though, will surely do whatever it can to strengthen its relationship with manufacturers and, perhaps sweeten the streaming deal for consumers. To maintain its lead, though, Netflix must gain access to the hottest films for its streaming services. To do so, it'll have to convince studios that its service is a better, more sensible and, ultimately, more profitable way to deliver video entertainment to consumers. I don't know if it'll succeed, but I will enjoy watching.

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