All of the  cable streaming channels  are charging more and more, or asking you to pay a premium if you don't want to watch commercials.  They are also cracking down on password sharing.   But today I will focus on Netflix, which began in 1997 as a DVD-by-mail movie rental service.   Silicon Valley carpoolers, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, with Patty McCord also in the car, admired Amazon and their large category of items selling on the internet.   During those days, VHS was the dominant mode, but they heard that DVDs, smaller, less delicate and cheaper, were coming, so they took this path. Jeff Bezos of Amazon initially offered to acquire Netflix, but Randolph and Hastings persevered, changing from from cost/rental to a monthly subscription for unlimited rentals without due dates or shipping. Then came the dot.com bubble, hurting their company, so they tried to sell Netflix to Blockbuster, which did not think much of those prospects. Patty McCord was also involved, and  here sh