Is Netflix the Next HBO?

It wasn't long ago that Netflix did nothing but rent DVDs. But come to think of it, it wasn't all that long ago that HBO did nothing but show movies,

Things change quickly at the intersection of technology and entertainment, and history not only repeats itself but seems to be on a fast-forward continuous loop. Or something like that.

All this is by way of saying that Netflix is said to be in negotiation to produce “House of Cards,” a TV series featuring Kevin Spacey and directed by David Fincher, two top names in the film business.

It's the latest episode in the hyperdrive development of Netflix and other video-streaming enterprises, which are fast coming to rival traditional program developers, like HBO, the over-the-air networks and movie studies.

This, of course, assumes that AT&T and the other carriers are not successful in choking off what looks like innovation to most of us but looks like turf-infringement to the telecom companies who want to have a vise-like grip on content and delivery.

AT&T dropped the first shoe yesterday with its announcement that it would begin metering the broadband usage of its in-home customers. AT&T, of course, says it is a network management issue. Others suspect it is the giant telecom's way of fighting back against “cord-cutting” – watching streaming video direct from the source instead of letting the likes of AT&T, Cablevision and Verizon control the menu.

Original content, after all, is what separates the players from the middlemen. HBO started out in life as a middleman, simply rerunning the same Grade C movies we had already seen on airline flights. As it matured, it began producing such epics as “The Sopranos” and “The Wire,” making itself not just a distribution channel but a brand.

Netflix is now scurrying up the same path. Besides talking with Hollywood types about producing its own shows, Netflix is talking with the studios hoping to get earlier access to recent movie releases.

Netflix charges a monthly fee for its streaming video service, unlike other companies that are basically in the pay-per-view business. Amazon recently introduced a small selection of movies that are available free to its premium subscribers, who pay an annual fee that gets them free shipping and other benefits. But most Amazon selections are still behind a pay wall.

Netflix now has more than 20 million subscribers to its streaming video and DVD rental services. That's approaching HBO's 28 million and already matches Showtime.

NPD Group said earlier this week that Netflix now accounts for 61 percent of all digital movie viewing during the first two months of the year. Comcast is a distant second with 8 percent.