We’ve been waiting for the other shoe to actually drop when it comes to the crumbling of cable companies, and we’ve come that much closer, thanks to Netflix.  The on-demand video rental service has posted great numbers for the third-quarter, with earnings of $38 million, or 70 cents a share.  Compare that to the $30.1 million from Q3 last year, and it’s clear that Netflix has done a few things right.

Excluding the cost of stock options, Netflix earnings were at 78 cents per share, which beat out analyst expectations by 7 cents.  The company’s revenue reached $553.2 million, still exceeding forecasts at $551 million.

And the public seems happy with Netflix—the company gained 1.9 million new subscribers, which is also higher than the 1.7 expected.  That makes four consecutive quarters Netflix managed to gain more than 1 million new subscribers, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.

Who may be seeing the end of the terminal is many of the cable service providers, who are competing with a number of Internet services like Netflix and Hulu.  The streaming media business is making huge strides lately, with more and more subscribers watching over 15 minutes of a movie or television episode.  Those numbers are up 41% from Q3 last year, and 61% from last quarter.

That also denotes some of the woes Netflix faced just a few months ago, with numbers coming in lower than expected during Q2 of this year.  While Netflix has made a few announcements since this summer, including streaming-only options in certain parts of the world, the past year has proven fruitful, as Netflix has forged several agreements with major publishers, like Warner, Nu Image, Universal and Sony.

Nevertheless, Hulu has been positioning itself as a threat to Netflix’s hold on the market, specifically in the online streaming realm, and even gearing up for an IPO.  Both Netflix and Hulu have been building out their infrastructure and supported apps, to become as accessible as possible across a number of devices, from mobiles to game consoles.

The launching of speedier, open WiFi networks will also introduce several opportunities for the likes of Netflix, proving a serious challenge for cable providers, though they’re slowly building out alternatives to extend existing services, launching mobile apps for a more seamless experience across the board.

In other news, the cable wars continue to heat up, putting Internet users in the crossfire.