• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Amid streaming/legacy TV maturity and consolidation, Netflix is forging ahead -- on its own trajectory, especially when it comes to scripted entertainment.

“Our volume is not slowing down,” Jinny Howe, head of U.S. and Canada scripted series for Netflix, said at a recent keynote address at an industry event in Banff, Canada. “We are very fortunate to still be in this growth mindset.”

For Netflix, spending now comes to around $20 billion a year with new IP for everything -- scripted, unscripted, sports and event programming.

Netflix’s Howe added that “the volume is appropriate.”

That probably should have competitors concerned -- especially legacy TV network-based companies that are more focused on slowing down costly productions and big capital expenditures.

These companies are burdened with finding ways to shift resources and cutting costs from legacy TV -- especially cable TV networks.

Netflix continues to generate high levels of cash to pay for all its new content going forward. This includes "frenemy" work in paying for production services from their competitors’ studio capabilities --- Paramount, Warner Bros., Universal, Walt Disney, or whomever.

The broader picture shows global worldwide entertainment content spending on legacy TV (broadcast and cable), streaming, theatrical and social video to be around $255 billion, with roughly $101 billion going to streaming content, according to estimates.

For Netflix, to be more specific, its total entertainment spend has been focused on streaming -- even as it occasionally distributed some of their films initially in limited runs in movie theaters.

That means Netflix’s focus remains in the area where everyone is now moving -- aggressively.

If this isn’t enough, even legacy TV-focused Fox Corp. is looking to shake up its model in announcing a $22 billion deal to buy streaming video distributor Roku.

How nervous might those executives at those slower-moving legacy TV companies feel now?