Microsoft and Netflix announced that 1 million Xbox Live Gold members have downloaded and activated Netflix's Xbox Live application since it launched on November 19th, 2008. With the service, Xbox 360 owners in the U.S. who have paid for both a Netflix Unlimited subscription and an Xbox Live Gold subscription can stream movies and television episodes through their console for no additional fee. Netflix currently offers over 12,000 movies and television episodes for users to access with the online rental company's "Watch Instantly" feature, with a portion of those videos available in high definition. Users have so far watched 1.5 billion minutes using the Xbox 360 Netflix application. Microsoft also offers a Video Store through its Xbox Live Marketplace, which all Xbox Live members in the U.S., UK, Canada, Ireland, France, and Germany can use to download TV shows and rent movies. The Video Store has a selection of more than 17,000 pieces of standard and high-definition content, and has grown its downloads 174 percent over the previous year. "Adding Netflix to our ever-growing library of 30,000 movies and TV shows makes Xbox 360 the best value in home entertainment," says John Schappert, corporate vice president Live, Software and Services Business at Microsoft.