I've worked in the online video streaming industry and I've never heard of such a restriction. I have heard of such restrictions for music streaming, however. (i.e. to be a "radio" service, a.la Pandora, you cannot have a predictable linear playlist).

Even if you have "auto-play", this is vastly different than the "scheduled content" of traditional TV.

Netflix stops every few episodes because there are per-stream costs, whether bandwidth or licensing (it's a waste to leave shows playing all night while someone's left their computer).