It was not so much the cost, but Netflix back then was quite affordable; it had more to do with the convenience of one stop streaming. Customers did not mind paying for easy access to content available from a single source.
Cable, initially had the right idea, but their content sucked. They had a handful of good channels, but wanted to sell their package of a hundred plus channels. Then, to add insult to injury, they loaded their service with tons of ads.
Now, with content providers grabbing their content from Netflix for their own streaming services, piracy is once again becoming more popular. Hopefully, they learn from past industry failures, otherwise they are doomed to repeat them.
The good news is now we don't need to resort to piracy, we also have many FREE Channels that offer a massive amount of great ad-supported content.