The most evilly clever thing they did was introduce mandatory hardware link encryption (HDCP) to prevent using a VCR, dvd-recorder, DVR, etc to record streaming content. And by not having their own DVR they'll be in a position when they wish to have for the first time since the late 90s (well over 30 years at this point) the population in a place where they cannot skip ads at all, the technology, the ability carefully murdered and the population trained like dogs to accept it. Add on the fact it's on-demand instead of something a box can passively pick out of a multiplexed signal and even if that wasn't an issue it's just not practical to record and watch later a bunch of streaming series.