The TV executives who once reviled it are starting to change their tune in part because pay-TV subscribers failed to flee cable en masse for Netflix, as was once predicted. The firm is also winning over former critics by spending billions to license content from big media firms, such as Viacom and CBS, boosting their profits. “We view Netflix as a friend,” Leslie Moonves, the boss of CBS, has said.
Yet the big cheques it is writing worry some sceptics. In June Netflix had at least $6.4 billion in content liabilities due in the next few years. To pay, it must keep growing fast, fend off competition and hope rules do not change in America that could make it more costly to deliver content over a broadband connection.
