From WIRED magazine: I find this fascinating and stimulating to imagine/anticipate:

For Hastings (note: Netflix founder) to fully accomplish his vision, he’ll have to go up against some of the most powerful incumbents in media: the cable companies and content providers that have successfully stymied or co-opted all previous entrepreneurial efforts. So far, Hastings has avoided the wrath of the giants by building his Netflix service surreptitiously, slowly amassing his library of streaming content and giving viewers new ways to access it. And now, even if the cable and content companies do take him on, it may be too late. Hastings’ Trojan horse—Netflix’s software, embedded on myriad consumer devices—is already in place.

It is odd, in an era when the Internet seems able to worm its way into every part of life, that nearly all of us still watch television the old-fashioned way, piped over cable or beamed in by satellite and available only in bloated packages of channels programmed by network executives. Breaking out of this system requires more patience, money, and technical expertise than the average couch potato is willing or able to expend: Plunk an expensive streaming device or PC tower in the living room, wire up a connection to the TV, and install the Boxee app or program a BitTorrent RSS feed to get the content. Watching live shows in real time requires an even more elaborate work-around. Cable companies have made some feints toward giving subscribers more control over what they watch, but most of their efforts have been lackluster. Verizon’s FiOS TV offers access to a few user-generated Web sites; Comcast and Time Warner Cable are rolling out services that let subscribers stream cable channels to their PCs.

The set-top box has proven to be a closed and well-guarded fortress against a world of clouds and openness. The cable and satellite industries, and their partners in Hollywood, work strenuously to keep it that way. It’s easy to see why: Those little boxes bankroll their business.

NetFlix Everywhere: Sorry Cable, You’re History

Yeah,  pretty lackluster attempts by cable companies to open up the possibilities for more programming freedom/choice for subscribers.  Especially that part about  “piped over cable or beamed in by satellite and available only in bloated packages of channels programmed by network executives”…..

Are they ever BLOATED!  And super expensive.  You go, Netflix!  Hit em’ where it hurts!