That being said, I recently said good bye to Directv. I did not add cable. I found that overall television has descended into a black hole absent of creativity. For every 30 Rock there are plenty of shows I will never, ever watch. Too much of cable has become a wasteland of reality shows: dangerous jobs, people hoarding piles and piles of junk, vapid idiots trying to be the dumbest person to every walk the face of the Earth. Outside of HBO and a handful of shows on other networks (30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, How I Met Your Mother) there is absolutely nothing to watch on pay television.  Nothing.

So after some investigation, I discovered I could stream two of the three sports I love (NHL and MLB), use an over-the-air antenna to get HD network programming, and stream the rest via Netflix and Hulu (though the verdict is still out on Hulu as it doesn't seem to have much content). As a result, our cable bill that was once around $105 per month is now replaced by $24 in streaming and DVD services. That's about $1,000 a year in savings.  The best part? I don't miss a thing (except Larry David which I'll get on DVD as soon as it comes out).

Actually, I've been watching shows and movies I always meant to try or watch again like Sports Night or Starblazers or Louie (from FX). Instead of wading through crap, I'm doing the programming and finding good stuff. Plus, by going OTA I get three PBS stations. So I now get more nature and history shows than on satellite.

You can do it too.  There is absolutely no reason to keep paying for cable. They gave up trying to really entertain you. They don't produce anything worth watching. If you're happy to pay $100+ a month so you don't miss an episode of Alaskan State Troopers or Frightening Old Ladies who Hoard Piles of Shit and Cats then by all means feel free. But, if like me, you miss the glory days of television and would rather not participate in the corporate sham that exists today, then join me. You won't miss a thing.

Netflix is made up of tech geeks and early adopters who, I'm sure, are all streaming television. They may have even done what my household has recently done, cut all pay TV sources and go streaming only. When I tell most people that we have no cable and no satellite and we get all content via streaming or an OTA (over-the-air) antenna they don't get it. I'm asked questions like, "so can you get TBS with that antenna," or "how do you get ESPN?" I don't. I get network TV for free (yes they still broadcast it) and stream everything else. I can only assume that many of those making decisions at Netflix have done the same thing. They are likely streaming using Netflix to provide the majority of their entertainment content. If they're like my family, they're also relying less and less on the DVD service.

So what does this have to do with the split and all the changes? I think Netflix is imagining a world in the near future where everyone gets more content like this and sees no reason to ever get another DVD in the mail again. Face it, eventually, all of the content on DVDs is going to be sold digitally like music. Netflix is anticipating that by splitting into two companies. With streaming enabled TVs and DVD players becoming the norm, streaming is set to take off. With postal rates about to increase and Saturday delivery about to go away, service via mail is going to get more complicated. Additionally, new competition from kiosks like Red Box may make take over what is left of an increasingly less lucrative physical DVD business.

A lot of people are upset because they don't want to wait for content to get to streaming/streaming has a poor selection of movies/streaming quality stinks/etc. Again, Netflix is making a play based on the future. As more and more consumers stream, the companies that own the rights to this content are going to see the need to stream more content more quickly. Who cares about DVDs being the first thing out if nobody watches them anymore? All of these problems will eventually go away and fix themselves. Broadband will get better, the selection will get better, etc. The only danger here is if broadband companies start to throttle bandwidth or find a way around net neutrality. 

The thing most people don't realize is that Netflix is thinking like a successful technology company NOT a consumer services company. By looking to the future, they're anticipating how people will act tomorrow. Maybe their methods weren't the smoothest, but they're trying to distance themselves from DVDs in the mail and make a play for streaming entertainment directly to the consumer. By doing so, they're betting on the long-term viability of the company and trying to anticipate how the market will change instead of reacting too late (like Blockbuster).