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.