As Seen on TV

It doesn’t really make sense to write a TV column about Netflix. And yet, here we are.

Netflix, a company built around movie rentals, is starting to enter the TV conversation.

For years, it has provided a service crucial to TV connoisseurs with its diverse streaming library.

But the Netflix executives want to do more.

Netflix has announced plans to shift its role from an online rental and streaming service to a cable network.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has suggested the company would like to raise its original content offerings by as much as 40 percent.

It basically wants to be HBO.

Netflix has been saying for years that it will soon create its own original programming. We’ve heard the rumors of Netflix bringing back shows such as “Arrested Development” from the dead.

I, for one, have always taken an I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it attitude toward the whole thing.

Netflix started as a business solution to better suit consumers’ needs. Try as it might, it’s a long way from becoming a creative cable venture.

But this more concrete announcement from Hastings about the company’s “natural direction” has made me look a little harder at what Netflix is doing. And I don’t really like what I see.

What I see as the “natural direction” of TV is toward the web. Hulu, Netflix and other online streaming options give greater access to viewers during their own time. HBO and more traditional TV providers are taking advantage of web-viewing, as well.

But Netflix already does the whole web thing. Why try to be something it’s not? Part of the beauty of Netflix is that it isn’t forced into the rigid structure of network scheduling.

It allows you to watch what you want, when you want it.

Netflix began online streaming in 2007, which facilitated a simple connection between consumers and TV.

Partnerships with major networks allowed Netflix to provide an easy way for viewers to watch seasons of syndicated programs.

I’ve wasted more hours than I care to know watching season after season of a show, and I know I’m not alone in this indulgence.

Netflix provides a unique service, as does HBO. By framing itself as a competitor of HBO and Starz, Netflix is losing access to its original role in TV: facilitator.

I say: Stick to what you know, Netflix.

If venturing into the realm of creating original TV content is diminishing the quality of the services that you provide now, why make the change? You don’t need to both create and provide.

Maybe Jack White said it best: “You can’t be a pimp and a prostitute, too.”