[recampbell]

What is there to stop me switching to Amazon or other competing streaming service tomorrow?

The quality of those services compared to Netflix.

Netflix realizes that they have to move quickly to cement their dominance in this field over the long term. If they are held back by their legacy business, they are going to die quickly. They would rather risk pissing off their biggest fans than jeopardize their stake in streaming.

[Bud]

I just don't understand this argument. In what real, actual ways is Netflix plausibly "held back" by shipping DVDs to folks? And in what ways is this fixed by spinning that business off in such a way that the exact same people will now run that company?

Because it seems to me that this is a lose-lose proposition, for the reasons stated by the commenters above.