Netflix’s decision to abandon its long-established practice of allowing subscribers to share their account passwords with friends and family outside their households has prompted more viewers who had been watching the video service for free to sign up for their own accounts.
In an apparent effort to rebuild its library of original programming after everyone returns to work, Netflix said it expects to spend about $17 billion on TV series and films next year. The company has been able to withstand the recently settled writers’ strike and ongoing actors strike by drawing upon a backlog of already finished TV series and movies in the U.S., as well as productions made in international markets unaffected by the labor disputes. This year’s subscriber inroads have been made despite entertainment labor strife centered in part on writers’ and actors’ complaints about unfairly low payments doled out by video streaming services such as Netflix.
