The Netflix effect

Beau Willimon’s House of Cards (Netflix, 2013) begins with an angry Kevin Spacey.

- VANITA KOHLI-KHANDEKAR

He plays Congressman Frank Underwood who has just been thwarted for the position of secretary of state by the newly elected president. Underwood and his wife Claire, played superbly by Robin Wright, are ruthless in their pursuit of power. Manipulation, lies, betrayal and Killing are the means through which he rises to be vice-president and then president. House of Cards (6 seasons) made for a fascinating watch, winning several Emmys and Golden Globes along the way. It was the first original Netflix dropped. It is also the best way to describe the effect Netflix has had on the world of media and entertainment. The first ever pay-streaming service has been the catalyst that sent the entire global media order collapsing, like a house of cards.

This week Netflix completes 10 years in India. It is a great time then to revisit the collapse and subsequent redrawing of the media map — globally and in India.

Netflix was renting out DVDs in the 1990s. It began streaming in 2010, five years after YouTube. However, commissioning the House of Cards changed things. The first two seasons of 26 episodes cost $100 million — the budget for a full-length film — to produce. All the episodes in a season were released together, and the service was priced at $8 to $12 a month, compared to $50 or more for cable TV. It was, by far, the biggest disruption in entertainment since compression technologies like MP3 devastated the music business in the late '90s.