Because before Netflix, legally streaming copyrighted movies to your computer was a pipedream and now we have several successful providers including Amazon, Vudu, CrunchyRoll, YouTube Live, Hulu, as a part of Hulu various television networks. The Superbowl was on the internet this year. That's kinda big.

It's partly responsible for bringing options to people with regard to what they see.

it's providing a service that will hopefully lead to a more open future. instead of being forced into buying bundled cable packages, maybe one day we'll be able to have more specified choices. i'd say services like Netflix, Hulu, etc. are all things that push towards that. at least i hope

I still don't really understand the importance of this. Also rather than being open, isn't Netflix still locked down with DRM? I seem to recall there is a Netflix DRM plugin built into ChromeOS.

DRM is what some content creators want right now and so that's what they'll get.

And the importance is the presence of competition where there otherwise wouldn't be any