In January 2007, the pioneering DVD-by-mail rental service Netflix launched a streaming media platform, introducing the idea of video on demand via an Internet connection. A the time of launch, Netflix only had 1,000 films available for streaming (compared to over 70,000 on DVD). A month later, Netflix would mail out its billionth DVD to a customer, which marked the beginning of the end. In the following years, thanks to partnerships made with studios and broadcasters like Disney, Warner Bros., Viacom, DreamWorks, The CW, and AMC, Netflix's streaming service was proving more popular than the mail subscription service that built their company.
But on February 1, 2013, a massive shift occurred when Netflix released "House of Cards," its first original, United States-produced series exclusive to the streamer. It wasn't just a riveting political drama, but one that also boasted huge Hollywood names like a yet-to-be-disgraced Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. Netflix proved that they could do more than just obtain licenses for hit movies and TV shows, they could make them as well. The early years of Netflix Original Programming was an explosion of creativity -- "Orange is the New Black," "Sense8," the Marvel TV shows, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," the start of Mike Flanagan's reign of horror, "Grace and Frankie," "One Day at a Time," and "BoJack Horseman" were absolute game changers, and Netflix was looking to distribute adventurous, creative, and original feature films.
But their success also inspired the studios and broadcasters Netflix had been acquiring the bulk of their library from to attempt to replicate the model for themselves, and The Streaming Wars began. The war has brought forth immeasurable casualties, but the biggest has undoubtedly become the dissolution of what the word "original" actually means.