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.

Comments

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Tailhook]

Tax subscribers. Obviously. The funds will be pissed away giving Canadian cable executives better bonuses

Is Canada still taxing blank media to subsidize the "victims" of "piracy?"

Whatever. Enjoy your cable monopoly Canuckistan. You deserve it. As do we.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Anonymous Coward]

The blank media levy isn't for victims of piracy; it makes it legal to copy music for private use in Canada.

Basically, Canadian recording companies constantly lobbied the government saying "People are copying our music. There's no other use for a blank cassette but to copy music. We want to be paid a little for all those blank cassettes, and then we'll make copying music legal." The Canadian government resisted for a while, but eventually caved in, and there was much rejoicing from the record execs.

And then a short while later Napster appeared on the scene, and suddenly all the record execs said "noooooooooo!" They suddenly started lobbying to remove their new bill. :P