Netflix has hits, Emmys and subscribers. But can it survive its fight with cable?

Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix, is on a mission: to turn his company into the Internet’s first television network.

Hastings sees the future of video entertainment as being largely written by HBO and Netflix, companies that offer must-see series on mobile apps that are highly personalized and constantly recommend more entertainment from vast libraries of content.

But there’s one major threat to its long-term survival. Netflix, which makes up nearly one-third of all Internet traffic, relies on the Internet pipes ruled by such companies as Comcast and Verizon. Stream to viewers a “House of Cards” episode whose connection fades in and out, and watch subscribers walk out the door. The world of television is dominated by big, entrenched players: broadcasters and cable companies that run the piping of the Internet and hope to get even bigger. Standing in the middle is Netflix, which has begun to flex its muscles in Washington, challenging the same cable companies that control those pipes that the company needs to survive, waging a high-stakes bet on government regulators to act as a referee over the fast-evolving tech and telecom industries.

Whether Netflix can survive will help determine how consumers watch television for years to come. Do they continue to pay Comcast for a big package of channels? Or do they abandon the bundle and subscribe to a mix of streaming video services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, streamed through their Apple TV or Google’s Android TV?