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The name Netflix isn’t going to get your average techie very excited. The company has been around for years delivering DVDs – not exactly the bleeding edge of high tech. It was a novel idea when it first started, but ten years into the 21st century, there isn’t anything sexy about the company or the concept.

Time to look again.

Netflix is not inclined to rest on its laurels. Sure, they changed the paradigm for DVD distribution in America. Yeah, they’ve driven Blockbuster to the verge of ruin. But that was so last decade.

Although they don’t get a lot of credit for being progressive, Netflix seems to always be one step ahead. The company has seen the writing on the wall – DVDs, even BluRay, are not the future of entertainment rentals. Most cable and satellite customers have the option to rent movies on demand through their set top boxes. ITunes and a host of other outlets sell electronic copies online. Driving to the video store is out. Waiting for a DVD in the mail is out. Now is the time of now – instant delivery.

Because of the dent that Netflix’s mail delivery program has put into DVD sales, the company recently renegotiated its contracts with the major movie studios. The studios got the concession that Netflix would not rent DVDs through the mail delivery program for 30 days after the movies hit stores. Netflix got a significant upgrade in the financial arrangements. Both sides got what they wanted, but the winners are Netflix’s customers.

Netflix is pouring that extra money into the streaming side of the business. They have vastly increased the number of movies available for viewing instantly and also improved the delivery considerably. With thousands of choices available to watch instantly on your computer or TV (if you’ve got a Wii, Playstation 3, Roku, or other Wifi enable device attached to your TV), the DVDs that come in the mail are suddenly a side note to the Netflix service.
There just isn’t any better return on your entertainment dollar (without violating international copyright law) than the nine bucks a month for Netflix.