Netflix wasn't a cable competitor- it was a Blockbuster competitor. They started out as the king of the DVD rental market, putting essentially 100% of the compe

Netflix wasn't a cable competitor- it was a Blockbuster competitor. They started out as the king of the DVD rental market, putting essentially 100% of the competitors in that distribution-only industry out of business. They eventually reached a scale in the streaming category (which they essentially invented from a business standpoint, even though they did not invent the technology) where it made sense for them to produce their own content, both because it was more economically efficient generally and to prevent studios from starving them of content and shutting off their revenues. Their move into producing some fraction of their own content matched that of both cable companies and TV studios before them. Netflix's primary advantage, in both the DVD market and the early streaming market was 100% a radically disruptive distribution advantage. Eventually, in both cases, they became so dominant that they redefined their own industries. It's not that Netflix is a cable company, it's that cable were forced to become Netflix to stay alive and avoid the fate of Blockbuster and Netflix's original competitors.