Netflix is committed to spending almost $3bn on TV and film content in 2014 and more than $6bn over the next three years, as the cost of securing international rights and commissioning new shows continues to mount on the streaming giant's balance sheet.

The US company also announced this week that it is to raise $400m to help fund this investment in original programming and a major European expansion later this year.

Its annual report, published this week, shows that at the end of 2013, Netflix had run up $7.3bn in "streaming content obligations", which are incurred when the company signs a licence agreement for programming, up 30% from the $5.6bn owed at the end of 2012.

The company said it has to pay $2.97bn of that by the end of 2014, with a total of $6.2bn due within three years.

Netflix made $4.3bn in total revenues last year, a healthy 19% year-on-year rise, growth which has made it a darling of US stock market investors, with its share price surging from $92 to $367 across 2013.

However, total "cost of revenues", of which licensing costs are the major factor, also rose 17% from $2.6bn to $3.1bn.

With another $500m ploughed into marketing, $378m into technology development and $180m in "general and administrative expenses", the US company ended the year with net profits of $112m.

The US movie and TV streaming giant, which is expected to expand into Germany and France later this year, said that it expects to "substantially increase" investment in shows that it makes itself, such as House Of Cards and Orange is the New Black.

"We expect to significantly increase our investments in international expansion, including substantial expansion in Europe in 2014, and in original content," the company said in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. "As a result, and to take advantage of the current favourable interest rate environment, we plan to obtain approximately $400m in long-term debt in the first quarter."

Netflix has been able to build its business by snapping up relatively cheap streaming rights, the potential value of which had been largely unrecognised by rivals and rights owners.

However, as Netflix has prospered and expanded its operational internationally and faced more competition from video-on-demand rivals, the value of securing these rights has mounted.

Netflix pointed out that despite planning a major increase in its original content budget, it would still represent less than 10% of the company's overall global content expenditure on rights to stream TV and films.

In a press statement, the company added that some of the $400m could also be earmarked for "potential acquisitions and strategic transactions".

Netflix's international expansion is becoming increasingly important to the company's growth plans.

The company's international subscriber base grew by 1.7 million to 10.93 million in the final quarter last year. Across 2013, Netflix put on 4.8 million new international subscribers in total, an 80% year-on-year increase.

Its international operations made $712m in revenue last year, up 148% year on year.

The international operation continues to make a loss, $274m in 2013, although this was a 30% year-on-year reduction.

Netflix launched its first streaming operation outside the US in 2010, when it expanded to Canada.

Latin America followed in 2011, the UK and Ireland in early 2012, and Scandinavia later the same year. The Netherlands is Netflix's latest market, launched in September last year.

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