we issued $200 million of our 8.50% senior notes due in 2017. Our primary uses of cash include payroll, advertising and payments to consumer electronics partners, stock repurchases, acquisition and licensing of content, content delivery, fulfillment expenses, taxes and capital expenditures related to information technology and automation equipment. We expect to continue to make substantial investments to obtain content, and in particular expect to increase spending associated with streaming content. Streaming content commitments have grown and continue to grow as we typically enter into multi-year, fixed-fee licenses. These investments could impact our liquidity and in particular our operating cash flows.

Although we currently anticipate that cash flows from operations, together with our available funds, will continue to be sufficient to meet our cash needs for the foreseeable future, we may require or choose to obtain additional financing. Our ability to obtain additional financing will depend on, among other things, our development efforts, business plans, operating performance and the condition of the capital markets at the time we seek financing.

On June 11, 2010, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program allowing us to repurchase $300 million of our common stock through the end of 2012. As of December 31, 2010, $240.6 million of this authorization is remaining. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on various factors, including price, corporate and regulatory requirements, debt covenant requirements, alternative investment opportunities and other market conditions.

The following table highlights selected measures of our liquidity and capital resources as of December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008:

Operating Activities

Cash provided by operating activities decreased by $48.7 million or 15.0% during the year ended December 31, 2010 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 primarily due to increased spending for content acquisition and licensing other than DVD library of $267.8 million. This increase was coupled with increased content delivery expenses of $78.7 million primarily resulting from a 9.7% increase in the number of DVDs mailed to paying subscribers and higher costs associated with our use of third-party delivery networks to deliver streaming content, increased promotional advertising activities and expenses related to our affiliates and consumer electronics partners totaling $33.6 million, increased payroll expenses of $36.2 million due to a 11% increase in employees, increased fulfillment expenses of $33.4 million, and increased current tax provision of $30.5 million. In addition, excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation increased by $49.5 million. The increase in these expenses was partially offset by an increase in subscription revenues of $492.4 million resulting from a 41.3% increase in the average number of paying subscribers.

Cash provided by operating activities increased by $41.0 million or 14.4% during the year ended December 31, 2009 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2008 primarily due to an increase in subscription revenues of