The Netflix decade: How one company changed the way we watch TV

While I credit Netflix with taking up the crown for streaming, I don't believe that started this era of how we watch things.

People had already begun watch tv shows and movies and YouTube and Dailymotion while netflix was still a DVD company.

Also, they simply filled a void that was occupied when the governments around the world banded together to shut down sites like PirateBay. People were already downloading and watch whole shows and movies on Pirating sites. When they got shutdown, Netflix stepped in and became the face of streaming.

It's been a God-send here in Japan, where regular TV makes my ears and eyes start to bleed.

I remember when it was a 3 DVDs at a time home delivery rental service.

Gotta agree with Jetplane. Netflix definitely wasn't the nucleus of binge watching. When regular TV back in the 70s had, for example, "Twilight Zone" marathons and other ones, I'd sometime spend the whole day watching them.

VHS and DVDs eras had me renting four or five tapes/disks of a movie series or TV shows that I liked and became a part of the couch for 24 hours.

Netflix has made it more easier and convenient to zone for hours but not the creator.

I look at my old collection of DVDs just taking up needless space now, sure I have them "forever" but I have little desire to revisit most of them.

The only thing I miss is the extras that were common on discs, like commentary tracks, deleted scenes, and other documentaries. I always enjoyed watching them, but I suppose with streaming there is just so much content to consume that most people won't take the time to watch them.

I still remember when I was a kid and went with my parents to the local video store and rent VCR tapes to watch movies on the weekend.

Later as a teenager, we had a DVD player and watched movies on it.

Now with Netflix it is just so easy to watch anything at anytime without having to go to the local video store.

But nothing beats the emotion of arriving home with your family carrying DVDs and 2 boxes of pizzas to spend the weekend watching movies together, I really miss those times.

It's been over 6 months, Still waiting for Season 2 of Kingdom II

And The Naked Director II

But East Asian Countries should team up with their own version of one streaming site for their movies/dramas.

The story goes that the founder of Netflix initially went to the owner of Blockbuster for an investment and potential partner. However, the Blockbuster owner turned him down.

Boy!!!! I bet he feels stupid now!

I second the motion with ‘No Business’

As mentioned above Netflix was an online DVD rental service. The fact that they stream now is just them delivering the same service in digital form. People were already pirating movies and streaming services were the 'cure' for it. So no, Netflix didn't change the way 'we' watched TV at all.

Nonsense. In its original form it was just a mail order version of the video rental store. Now it is having a huge library to watch instantly whenever you want.

I was not steaming movies before Netflix. It was a minority activity. Now pretty much everyone does it.

Netflix changed the way we watched TV.

Although not for my in-laws, who use the television as a noisy moving wallpaper, in true Japanese style.