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Canadian Regulator Threatens To Impose New Netflix Regulation
An anonymous reader writes: Netflix appeared before the Canadian broadcast regulator today, resulting in a remarkably heated exchange, with threats of new regulation. The discussion was very hostile — the CRTC repeatedly ordered Netflix to provide subscriber information and other confidential data. As tempers frayed, the Canadian regulator expressed disappointment over the responses from a company that it said "takes hundreds of millions of dollars out of Canada." The CRTC implicitly threatened to regulate the company by taking away its ability to rely on the new media exception if it did not cooperate with its orders.
To clarify, in this case they claim that netflix doesn't do enough to encourage the production and consumption of Canadian entertainment, a requirement they place on other distributors.
So they're, in theory, doing exactly what you say, just in less harsh terms. They want to ensure the continued interest of Canadian producers, and not American.
And they're using arbitrary leverage like demanding subscriber lists to push netflix to obey. It's not neat or nice. But they're kinda being upfront that it's just leverage not genuine interest in the records.
Check the facts before making snap judgements. This article is blatantly misleading to the events that actually occurred. Here's the actual video from the hearing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Summary: Commission is seeking information to make a decision - even in its conversation with Netflix they state they are not leaning in any direction (regulation or deregulation). The commission requested information, Netflix rep refused to commit to provide it. This pissed off the head of the CRTC because Netflix doesn't have a choice - by operating in Canada they must provide the information. The CRTC repeatedly had to make it an order for Netflix to provide the information it was requesting to backup assertions made by Netflix to the commission with actual facts/data.
Canada is their 2nd most successful market.
No it's not. That's quite the opposite: most cable companies would like to see the CRTC go away because it forces those who have specialized channels (basically every single profitable cable company) to contribute to a big pool of money that public services can tap into to subsidize their ad-free programming (which directly competes with private cable companies) and to pay for content that nobody cares about and that will never make money (a la CSPAN or PBS).
The truth is that the CRTC is mostly a symbolic agency with very little power. They report to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, which has maybe 3 employees and 2 interns. They don't control the frequencies or anything like that.
lucm, indeed.
Except Netflix is **not** a Canadian company.
Your point? ABC/NBC/Fox/etc are not Canadian companies, they still have to comply with CanCon rules within Canada. Netflix is operating under an exemption from those rules right now.
What!?! Citation needed. Yes you need a physical presence. International law has not changed. Good luck dragging Netflix into a Canadian court of law.
Huh? The American networks as carried in Canada do not have 50% Canadian content in prime time. In fact, it's probably zero percent.
You're right, the only reason they don't is because the channels that are canadian get overwritten by the cableco/satellite provider when it's also broadcast on a US channel. So they get their "canadian content" that way. The only way to get a US channel in Canada that isn't simulcast is by OTA.
Om, nomnomnom...
Youu mean the blank media levy? Yes.
Which is particularly ironic now that Bill C-11 passed in 2011 (despite otherwise unanimous objection to it by all other parties, the Conservative government, controlling slightly more than 50% of the seats in the House of Commons, was able to finally push it through, which they had been trying to do repeatedly since 2006, and were only able to do so once they had a majority government), and which happens to make it illegal to bypass or break any kind of technological protection measures on copyrighted works, even for personal use, and considering the increased reliance of such measures in an only ever-increasingly digital era, this bill makes the levy on blank media, which was supposed to exist to subsidize for private copying only by the way (not piracy, as some people believe), an extra expense that Canadians are paying for and practically don't even have the right to legally enjoy (although the government has said they will not enforce the bill in matters for strictly private use, it would still apparently be technically illegal).
Did I mention that I really hate the Canadian Conservative government? I sure as hell didn't vote for them.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Is Canada still taxing blank media to subsidize the "victims" of "piracy?"
Yes. Is the USA still allowing copyright trolls to financially ruin people in ways that are not legal in Canada?
Enjoy that.