Netflix once fought fiercely for net neutrality, fearing that its online video service would suffer if internet providers were free to discriminate against it.
But now that it boasts one of television’s largest audiences, Netflix isn’t spending much time worrying about the demise of the government rules that once protected it.
With millions of subscribers still flocking to its service, Netflix figures internet providers are unlikely to do anything that might alienate large numbers of their own customers who also turn to Netflix for trendy shows such as “Stranger Things,” ″The Crown and “Black Mirror.”
The Trump-era Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality rules—which barred companies from slowing or blocking customer access to apps and sites or setting up paid “fast lanes”—in mid-December.
The rules have been a big deal for smaller startups, as Netflix once was.
But now Netflix has more than 117 million subscribers worldwide, including nearly 55 million in the U.S., according to the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, released Monday.
“Netflix’s fortress is so strong now that net neutrality has become background noise for them,” says GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives.
