Around late November/early December 2025, Netflix stripped the ability for subscribers to cast Netflix content from mobile devices to TVs and streaming devices with built-in casting support. Users the world over are in mourning over the decision, which shows that casting—a zeitgeist of the 2010s—has become strategically important enough that Netflix wants to own it, and then kill it. The primary reason is that casting weakens how Netflix controls ads, as well as the UI, the user data, and various other components like DRM. While Netflix continues to grandfather legacy Google Chromecast devices, the move marks an assault on low-cost hardware—mostly impacting lower-earning households. Though Netflix has not provided any explanation to support the move to drop casting support from…