Netflix adds 5 million subscribers

Just when an entertainment venue seems dominant, along come a disruptive technology that displaces it. There are plenty of smart people who will tell you that Cable and the VCR killed the Drive In Movie. Now taking its place as the dominant media platform, broadband is displacing all traditional distribution mediums. I’m not suggesting that cable or video rentals are dead, but it’s easy to see their days are numbered.

Netflix is but one Internet based service that is vying for the Cable subscriber, and it is growing at a brisk clip while Cable’s pay TV business has seen better days…..

Netflix Inc.’s movie subscription service attracted 1.7 million more customers during the first quarter to fuel a torrid growth streak that has turned the company into a stock market star.

The results announced Wednesday are the latest evidence of Netflix’s rising popularity. The service has picked up more than 5 million subscribers in the past 18 months as more households embrace Netflix’s DVD-by-mail and Internet video packages that start at $9 per month. (Yahoo)

An $8.99 Netflix subscription includes unlimited online streaming from a library that easily contains many times more programming than the Cable schedule on any given day. If the movie lover is cutting expenses, it’s not a big stretch to see many getting the cinema fix via a  Netflix subscription at $8.99 instead of the $50+ alternative.