Netflix wants to be HBO...hurrah!

Netflix buying A-list original content.

Netflix has confirmed that they intend to pay for House of Cards a new show being produced by David Fincher (yes, he of Fight Club, The Social Network, etc) and starring Kevin Spacey (yes, he of The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, etc). Netflix is not paying for the full production of it, but instead they’re paying for the first-rights access to air it. In other words, they get the first “window” to show it to viewers.

I've been saying streaming is going to eat cable's lunch since Roku made integrating it into your living room so simple even I could figure it out, and here it comes.


Watching everything on Netflix has made me virulently intolerant of the 'necessities' of watching broadcast teevee or even DVDs. The discontents of cable are manifestly obvious, but even DVDs are an irritant compared to the smooth ride available on streaming.

If Fuss wants to watch an episode of Oswald, I hit a few buttons, it takes a few seconds to buffer and we're off.

If Fuss wants to watch an episode of Curious George, the DVD forces me to sit through an interminable FBI PIRACY WARNING!!, tries to make me watch a bunch of promos and trailers (which you can't skip without using the remote, which I always have to search for because Fuss hides it) and makes me wait even longer while the clever animated menu loads.

And that's actually one of the least intrusive discs- anything by Disney is 1,000 more annoying, some of their menus assume there's a 3 year old manning the remote and force you to sit through a tutorial on what the various menu options are before you can select any.

The down side to Netflix is, of course, you're at the mercy of your internet provider, and mine flat out sucks (AT&T). It dies randomly for no good reason, goes through stretches where I have to reboot the modem every hour or so to make it keep working and it can BARELY handle someone watching a show while someone else surfs the web. God forbid Devra simultaneously try to watch anything on her end.

But even so, give me streaming or give me death. It's the inevitable conclusion of visual entertainment delivery evolution.