I can't answer the payment questions but I can answer the other questions.
It has new releases, some might take a while but it seems like it is moving a lot faster, it already has Undercover Boss season 1 which I am curretly watching. The movies usually come out when they are released on DVD.
The show selection is great, I watched all of Lost on streaming except for the last season. I watched the last 2 seasons of Heroes on streaming. Netflix has The Office, Bones, Dexter, Psych, several National Geopgraphic documentaries, 30 Rock, SNL, Lie to Me, and tons of others all available for instant streaming.
Netflix is definitely worth it though if you prefer streaming more, there are only about 10 movies out of the Netflix top 10 that are streamable.
