Netflix Now Has More Subscribers Than HBO

Qwikster? What's a Qwikster? Netflix appears to have solidly put that debacle behind it, posting a strong earnings report yesterday that included this interesting tidbit: Netflix now has 29.17 million paid subscribers. That, Forbes observes, is more than HBO, which at the end of last year reported 28.7 million subscribers. So if Netflix were a premium television channel, it would be No. 2, behind Encore.

Netflix followed up the report today by announcing a new "family plan" that, for $11.99 a month, will allow up to four people to stream content simultaneously. The current $7.99 streaming package only allows up to two simultaneous viewers. In other Netflix news, its subscribers watched a whopping 4 billion hours in the first quarter of this year. (More Netflix stories.)