Netflix CEO Reed Hastings could barely contain himself. On Wednesday, after reporting another stellar financial quarter for the company — 2.3 million new subscribers, nearly $50 million in profits — the man who destroyed the Blockbuster empire started taunting his latest nemesis: HBO.

When asked about HBO co-president Richard Plepler claiming that the company wasn’t hurt by people sharing their passwords for HBO Go, its streaming video app, Hastings pretended to give out Plepler’s personal login credentials: “It’s plepler@hbo.com,” Hastings said, “and his password is netflixbitch.”

Pretty cocky for the guy who invented Qwikster. But his swagger has substance behind it. For a company that was on the death-watch list just a few years ago, Netflix has engineered one of the most remarkable corporate turnarounds in recent memory. Rising from the depths of a fading DVD-by-mail business, Hastings and company have transcended the movie rental market. Now they’re taking on television, both the industry and the medium itself. And in a way, Netflix has already won there, too.

via Netflix Is Going to Rule TV After All | Wired Business | Wired.com.