Netflix was initially a DVD-rental company that relied on the US postal service to deliver and collect their movie titles.
In 1999 they introduced their monthly subscription concept (versus the single-title rental model) after one of the founders was reportedly fined $40 by Blockbusters for the late return of a copy of Apollo 13. From there the company built its reputation on flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees.
In 2000 Netflix rejected a purchase offer of $50 million by Blockbuster. Their business model moved to Internet streaming from 2007 and the company currently and has a market cap of $139 billion.