Since the inception of the mechanical television in 1925, television has been in a state of constant evolution but remains a staple in most of our lives. Although many of us now choose to stream shows and movies — or even watching news broadcast — online, rather than being tied to the living room TV set, few people abstain from consuming broadcast television altogether.

Rumors of the imminent death of linear TV may be exaggerated — but Netflix is trying its hardest to get you online: Although we should all hold off on penning the obituary of TV’s old guard for the moment, Netflix’s spending plans makes clear its intentions to cement its status as the preeminent streaming superpower. This year, the biggest streaming service in the game will bump up its spending on content to a stunning USD 15bn and hike its marketing budget to almost USD 2.9bn, Todd Spangler writes for Variety. The company — currently with a market-leading subscriber base of 139.3mn — is looking to ramp up its production of original films and TV series as rival media giants Disney, Warner and NBC pull programs from the platform and establish themselves in the streaming market.

The Netflix model of spending is having inflationary effects on the costs of TV production and this is fomenting “a sense of panic” among company execs, Variety says. As Netflix and others join the likes of HBO in airing bigger, more cinematic TV series, high production costs are becoming the new industry norm. Following interviews with more than a dozen executives, Variety pegs the average production cost of high-quality TV series at USD 5-7 mn per hour — a significant rise from USD 3-4 mn just five years ago. “It’s an arms race,” says Michael Pachter, a research analyst at Wedbush Securities. “It’s going to be that way until somebody realizes they’re just beating their head against the wall and not getting anywhere.”