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

why does the CRTC need this list?

[ganjadude]

why does anyone other than netflix need to know who their customers are?

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Anonymous Coward]

The CRTC is in the pockets of companies that don't like netflix, aka cable companies.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Archangel Michael]

CRTC is nothing more than another bureaucratic regulatory agency that is seeking to expand its powers by doing the bidding of the kings and queens, against the interests of the serfs. Anyone that seeks to limit these new expansions of powers is quickly labeled as wanting "Somalia" or "Dirty air and water" or other such nonsense.

The result, is the fear mongers win, and those are the Bureaucrats and Politicians seeking to expand their power and authority, and bribes and future "consulting agreements"

So, the next time a Libertarian mentions limiting government, and you kneejerk into a "somalia" rant, here is what you're actually promoting. This is actual reality of what your viewpoint actually is advocating. Nice Job A-Hole

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[i kan reed]

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.

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?

[JMJimmy]

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.

Re: why does the CRTC need this list?

[NeutronCowboy]

Wow. Every regulatory agency is just there to expand its own powers? They do nothing else?

The reason people point you at Somalia is because your hyperbole leads you directly there. Want to have a civilized discussion about the optImal size of government? Great, start by dropping the ridiculous hyperbole.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[lgw]

No, really, why is it anyone's business at all?

Governments' legitimate interest in regulation is in product safety and fraud prevention, not in deciding who gets to do business with whom and at what price.

We've had far too many "regulation: good vs bad?" debates here on /., and we should really stop that, as that's a silly question. The interesting question is "regulation: what scope?".

Is there any legitimate reason for a government regulatory body to inspect and control subscriber lists for an entertainment product? Any good reason for it to examine who has watched what? I can think of only evil reasons: to target people with the wrong tastes in (legal) entertainment as anti-government dissidents: likely troublemakers to take pre-emptive action against. That's an old song that many governments have seen before, and one we don't need ot hear in Canada or the US!

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[doconnor]

I suspect they just want to know how many customers they have, not specifically who they are.

One of the CRTC jobs is to ensure Canadian TV content gets created and we are not stuck with 100% American programming and Canadian culture disappears entirely. If everyone starts watching all their TV on Netflex and similar services, Canadian TV could all but disappear. Most counties other then US have systems to ensure domestic content is produced, but Canada is so close to the US, the pressure far greater.

Movies aren't subject to regulation and Canadian made movies are barely seen in cinemas (and the few that are tend to be based on Canadian TVs shows).

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[lucm]

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.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[doconnor]

It was the number of subscribers:

http://business.financialpost....

Estimates of the number of Canadian subscribes are only available from surveys:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2...

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[afidel]

that nobody cares about ... or PBS).

Your ignorance is showing.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[JMJimmy]

... by operating in Canada they must provide the information.

Netflix maintains that they do not operate in Canada. They do not have Canadian employees, nor do they have offices in Canada.

This is a common misconception. You do not need to have a physical presence in a country anymore to be operating there. You need "significant ties" - hundreds of thousands/millions of customers qualifies as "significant ties".

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Dixie_Flatline]

I'm not sure if anyone commenting on this story is actually Canadian, but the Canadian Content mandate has existed for years. It's not about favouring Canadian production companies so much as encouraging Canadian content for cultural reasons. Being so close to the USA leaves us vulnerable to sort of being swamped, culturally.

Radio stations are required to play a certain amount of Canadian music as well. It's not really anything new.

Personally, I like the idea of that. It encourages and funds a lot of Canadian artists that might otherwise get swamped out of the market by monied American interests.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[taustin]

That sounds great until there is a conflict between the laws of different countries, like the Microsoft/Irish data center case. When a company can't obey the laws of one country without breaking the laws of the other, it's not a legal issue involving the company, it's a political issue between two governments.

And if it comes to One World Government taking precedence over all others, it won't be Canada deciding what international law is.

Canada only has jurisdiction over what is can enforce its orders on. If Netflix has no employees or assets in Canada, Canada has no jurisdiction over Netflix.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[JMJimmy]

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.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[oh_my_080980980]

What!?! Citation needed. Yes you need a physical presence. International law has not changed. Good luck dragging Netflix into a Canadian court of law.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[mrchaotica]

Then why did they appear before the Commission at all? If they truly do not operate in Canada, then nothing the CRTC does affects them and they could blow off the whole thing with impunity.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[pslytely psycho]

No it doesn't.
Canada blows, Mexico sucks.
That's why the prevailing winds in North America are north to south......

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[kristianbrigman]

Except.... cable companies program what they are going to play. Netflix plays what their subscribers want to see. What are they supposed to do, put up a notice saying 'You can't watch the next episode of "Under the Dome" until you first watch your quota of 3 of these other Canadian shows?' The rules don't even make sense for the Netflix model.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Citizen of Earth]

Huh? The American networks as carried in Canada do not have 50% Canadian content in prime time. In fact, it's probably zero percent.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[i kan reed]

Netflix plays what their subscribers want to see

Then why do they have so many reality TV shows? Ugh.

No, but really, the set of inputs to what Netflix has is quite complicated. They love things with cheap per showing licenses, like off-the-air TV shows, unpopular movies, documentaries where the producers are more interested in pushing a message than making a profit, and a smattering of more popular "draw" shows/movies to bring in the popular audience.

And then there's the loss-leader shows trying to get people to start watching the series as it comes out, either on pay services or with commercials.

And then there's the various "taste profiles" of the people who are netflix subscribers, and what's both cheap and good within that frame.

There's some pitiable accountants in the company who's responsible for balancing all those factors, while making a profit.

Reducing all that to "giving the people what they want" is a little unpragmatic.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[JMJimmy]

It's 55% from 6pm to midnight, however, part of the way they get around it is that commercials are included which means they only need to air 66 minutes of non-commercial Canadian content during that period. Usually that takes the form of news.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Mashiki]

You've got no idea of what you're talking about. The biggest reach that politicians have on this is being able to threaten to take their mandate away on broadcast regulatory issues. And it has nothing to do with libertarianism, this is due to excessive regulation not too little. And why is this happening? Because the CRTC is packed with suits from the major telcos, cableco's, and industry insiders. I'm sure someone will scream "lulz harper" but I'll point out now that this is how it has been since the CRTC got started.

The CRTC mandates: internet, pricing controls for the internet, third party pricing controls for the internet, cancon, who can or can't have a broadcast license, telephone, telephone quality, and several other things. Industry Canada on the other hand their biggest reach is spectrum.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[kristianbrigman]

That's not the point... i don't know the details, maybe it's more complicated than this, but as i understand it there are rules about playing X% of canadian content. for a radio station, this means that if there are 24 hours in a day, they may need to play e.g. 10 hours of canadian music and 14 hours of everything else (announcers, commercials, foreign music, etc). And you either listen to it, or don't, but you can guarantee a certain percentage of supply. If you watch or listen to any particular station for any length of time, you'll see or listen to some canadian content.

Netflix doesn't work like that... i say i want to watch X, Y, and Z. if those aren't canadian, what do they realistically want netflix to do? throttle me? pay a tax on every non-canadian item? force the catalog of choices to be X% canadian? ensure that some canadian content is shown (but that's usually based on my watching history... guess it would have to take some additional input)? none of those are really very similar to the content quotas on radio/TV, and are far less effective at promoting Canadian cultural content....

in general, culture is transitioning from a push model to a pull model. There's just not as much room for central control of any kind to meaningfully control it.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[phorm]

Being so close to the USA leaves us vulnerable to sort of being swamped, culturally.

What *is* culturally *Canadian*? Seriously, we've all seen the stereotypes like mounties and beavers (or a mountain and a wolf a la "Due South"), but is that really a defining part of Canadian identity?

I enjoyed "Bon Cop Bad Cop", but it wasn't really special content-wise. I certainly hope that we're not expecting that "Trailer Park Boys" or "Corner Gas" is really Canadian? Do we expect the actors to drink Canadian beer instead of Bud?

A lot of so-called American movies are actually shot in Canadian cities too, so scenery-wise they're pretty domestic. Ditto for Canadian actors (particular comedic actors) in American movies.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[substance2003]

It's the commercials.

Let's say a US show like Sleepy Hollow from Fox is playing for instance.
I'm only thinking of that one as it's totally being bombarded on me as part of the fall lineup at the moment and know which station in the US plays it.
Now, Global TV in Canada has the rights to play that same show in Canada and is doing so at the same time.
Well what would be the point of paying for ads on Global if everyone is watching the US feed via cable and satellite?
So the solution is to have the Global TV feed play which is playing simultaneously to FOX replace the feed from the FOX channel and insure we see those commercials targeting Canadians. At least that's what I was noticing when I had cable. I believe there is talk about changing that.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Mashiki]

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.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[kuzb]

Watching under the dome wouldn't be a reward, it would be a punishment.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[mark-t]

Is Canada still taxing blank media

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.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Minwee]

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.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Gliscameria]

CSPAN is pretty damn essential. Sure, most of it is just ambient noise for catching sleep in a hotel, but just about anytime you see or hear any footage of some politician doing actual dumb stuff while at their job - it's from CSPAN.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Minwee]

It just proves so called Canadian culture, art, music sucks and cannot stand on it own two feet. Canada would rather have American culture than its own shitty home grown crap.

Hell yeah! Why would they want to see Canadian movies when they could be watching films with good, ole AMERICAN actors like Dan Ackroyd, Raymond Burr, John Candy, Neve Campbell, Jim Carrey, Michael Cera, James Doohan, Nathan Fillion, Michael J. Fox, Matt Frewer, Lorne Greene, Corey Haim, Phil Hartman, Tricia Helfer, Michael Ironside, Margot Kidder, Eugene Levy, Eric McCormack, Norm McDonald, Rick Moranis, Carrie-Anne Moss, Mike Myers, Leslie Neilsen, Catherine O'Hara, Sandra Oh, Tahmoh Penikett, Christopher Plummer, Seth Rogen, William Shatner, Martin Short, Jewel Staite, Donald Sutherland... Heck, that's half the cast of almost every Comedy or SF film ever made.

All Canada has is Justin Bieber and Nickleback.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Minwee]

Why doesn't Canada just take justin beiber back, call it even?

Unless the USA restores him to the condition in which he was originally received, they're going to have to forfeit their damage deposit.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[dargon]

It just proves so called Canadian culture, art, music sucks and cannot stand on it own two feet. Canada would rather have American culture than its own shitty home grown crap.

One could say this, one could also say that American mass market programming a) just appeals to the lowest common denominator (reality crap, game shows, manipulated news programs, etc etc) b) is so overpowering and invasive that it's like the kudzu of the media world.

The US has a much larger budget for the production of TV shows, music, etc, that a country with a population that is only slightly more than 10% of yours (35.3M vs 317M) just plain and simply can't compete, so we know this and have simply enabled laws to protect our culture in that regard. Imagine what a movie like Avatar would look like if instead of of a budget of $237M it had been created with a budget of $23.7M (please note, I'm not going to get into the argument of whether or not it was a good movie overall, but it had pretty damn good special effects). The difference would have been night and day, lesser known actors of probably lesser caliber (Sigourny Weaver earned $8M on her own for her role, with a budget of just $23.7M no way would they have gotten her), much poorer special effects (think the Scorpion King in the Mummy 2 and how bad he looked), etc etc.

Just because we tend to consume more US culture, art, music, etc than our own, in no way means ours sucks, just yours is more shiny.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Obfuscant]

Netflix is in the business of promoting what's good (and their own stuff...).

Netflix neither knows nor cares what is good or bad, they're in the business of selling people what people will pay to see.

If you want Canadians to consume canadian made stuff then just keep on making good stuff.

Those laws were created a long time ago when Canada was pushing back against the USification of broadcast television content. It has nothing to do with trying to force Canadians to consume Canadian made stuff.

I, for one, am glad those laws exist, because it promoted the creation of shows like SCTV (not the SCTV New York dreck) and "You Can't Do That On Television". Gosh I miss Moose. And even Barth.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Archangel Michael]

Netflix is providing content Canadians want, and the government is deciding that isn't good enough. Netflix is STREAMING video, and there is a shit ton of content available, most of it isn't Canadian. If Netflix is required to carry one Canadian show, per non-Canadian show, they better start making a shit ton of new shows. Otherwise it is impossible to comply. Basically it shows that the original mandate is no longer feasible because of technology changes. This is exactly what can be expected when the world changes around those that wish it to remain the same.

Good luck making it work.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[mysidia]

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.

Netflix is not a broadcaster/Television company. They are a subscription internet service that streams video over the internet or ships DVDs for rental on demand.

As such, they do not need to license any spectrum or broadcast rights, as their transmissions are in private over the telecommunications network. And they are essentially an equivalent to an online "All You can Eat" DVD/Video rental shoppe.

Last I checked, video rental shoppes and other businesses besides broadcasters are not subject to regulation in regards to what their video library can carry.

There would be fundamental free speech rights violations in attempting to dictate what a store or information service should carry.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[JMJimmy]

> I suspect they just want to know how many customers they have, not specifically who they are.

Nonsense.

I am sure that Netflix is more than willing to BRAG about how many Canadian customers it has, or how many customers it has in ANY country.

Way different kettle of fish than actual subscriber info.

Watch the hearing, I posted the YouTube link above - they only asked for the total number of Canadian subscribers and Netflix considered that "sensitive" information and refused to give it.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[JMJimmy]

The law deals with "signals which carry sound and images" - it's not technology specific. That's why, years ago, they introduced the "digital exemption" for internet based services to allow them to grow/keep entry barriers low for new services. That exemption is granted (or revoked) a the CRTC's discretion and that's what this set of hearings is for - to figure out whether to regulate, deregulate, or maintain the status quo on both traditional broadcasters and new media.

In Canada corporations are not people, they do not have free speech rights.

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

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[debrain]

One of the many cases that now clarify this topic include Easthaven, Ltd. v. Nutrisystem.com Inc., 2001 CanLII 27992 (ON SC), http://canlii.ca/t/1vz4l retrieved on 2014-09-19, which states at para. 29 (where the 'person' is referring a company whose presence was based on Internet activity in Canada):

The court held that general jurisdiction could be found in such a case [with an Internet company] only if the person was domiciled in the jurisdiction or his activities there were "substantial" or "continuous and systematic".

Jurisdiction can also arise for specific subject matter, as in the case here involving Netflix and the CRTC, by certain statute or treaty (viz. the NAFTA provisions for cultural accommodations for media). Of course a Court in Canada could just assume jurisdiction and give a paper judgment - the question then becomes whether an American court would recognize the judgment through the process called comity. With extremely rare exceptions between Canada and the USA, the Courts will recognize the judgments reciprocally.

There is also nothing stopping the CRTC from bringing an action in the USA based on violations that occurred in Canada. The applicable law may be different from the law of the jurisdiction that addresses the allegations of wrongdoing (i.e. it may be Canadian law that applies, but heard by an American Court, or vice versa). In any case an operation being abroad is not a defence from wrongdoing - notwithstanding e.g. extraterritorial immunity arising from a treaty.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Dragonslicer]

Ignoring the desires of 40% of the population is a wee bit undemocratic, wouldn't you agree?

Uh, no, if the other 60% desired otherwise, ignoring the desires of 40% of the population would, by definition, be completely democratic. That's why we don't have true democracies.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[c-A-d]

When you consider that this is actually fairly typical of the returns in any Canadian federal election since the 1950s, then I can make the same claim of many Liberal governments as well, except for the bias towards Ontario in those cases. The west votes Conservative for some very good reasons (NEP and CWB for starters).

http://www.electionalmanac.com/ea/canada-popular-vote-results/

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Stoutlimb]

You are incorrect on the Internet, so I must correct you.

Hits these days aren't discovered so much as made. CanCon must makes sure that some of the people making the hits are Canadian. It's just business, and Canadians have at least a 10/1 disadvantage, with the added pitfall that if these Canadian businesses fail, our culture gets completely swallowed up by USA megacorps. The truth is that USA can and will buy and sell Canada 10 times over without anyone south of the border even noticing. We as a country need to stand up and say that our culture is not for sale, or it will be gone.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Man On Pink Corner]

Those are private licensing conditions, nothing to do with the government except insofar as basic copyright law is being cited.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[puto]

You actually listed Corey Haim.

Re:why does the CRTC need this list?

[Stoutlimb]

You don't get it... Canadian meda can be twice as innovative, interesting, diverse, and popular than USA media, but because of the population difference, it would still drown in a sea of mediocre USA programming without some sort of protection in place. This has nothing to do with quality, Canadians can kick ass at that, it's a simple numbers game. For every Canadian doing something awesome, there's at least 10 people in the USA doing something at least as good.

Why does the US need this list?

[Etherwalk]

FTA: "(conversely, U.S. regulators can provide guarantees of confidentiality)"

WHY does ANYONE other than Netflix need to know who the subscribers are or what they watch?

Re:Why does the US need this list?

[JMJimmy]

FTA: "(conversely, U.S. regulators can provide guarantees of confidentiality)"

WHY does ANYONE other than Netflix need to know who the subscribers are or what they watch?

CRTC didn't ask for that information

What they did ask for was:

a) Total number of subscribers
b) Anonymous data on total views of content found in the "Canadian" genre that Netflix maintains
c) How PIPEDA was being complied with, especially given the way the Netflix recommendation algorithms work
d) How much they were investing in Canadian produced content

Re:Uh

[JMJimmy]

Canada is their 2nd most successful market.

Fuck Canadian content welfare system

[future assassin]

I could care less to support Canadian made content that I could care less to watch. Funny how this pops up just when Shaw and Rogers are releasing their version of Netflix. Netflix should just pull out but allow people to buy and look the other way. I`d rather pay for a VPN to access than to let the gov clamp down on emerging technology and markets.

Re:Fuck Canadian content welfare system

[JohnSearle]

Not that I necessarily agree with regulating content on Netflix; but there is a connection between media and opinions around ideologies, national unity, political awareness, amongst other topics. Being overwhelmed with cheap American content doesn't assist in educating Canadians about Canadian values and awarenesses. This is even more problematic when the viewers are still learning / developing their value systems (e.g. children).

I recall seeing some statistic that showed that an increasing number Canadians were more aware of the American political system then there own... a sad state of affairs that is due to an overwhelming amount of American media presence. It is this type of situation is what the CRTC is attempting to mitigate through regulation.

Re:Fuck Canadian content welfare system

[dskoll]

If you want Canadians to watch Canadian content, then... make content that Canadians want to watch. It's that simple.

I watch a few excellent Canadian shows (for example, TV Ontario's The Agenda). But most TV shows produced in Canada are crap. They're no better than the cheap American shlock.

Welp...

[Mashiki]

Sounds like I need to contact my MP, last time the CRTC pulled this shit with UBB it took the federal government threatening to pull their mandate for them to smarten up. Fellow canucks can contact their MP via this list here. Sounds like they need to be threatened again, and if they decide to piss on us--I'll get a VPN and get the US netflix. And if they make it illegal like US satellite dishes, people will say fuck you anyway.

There's a reason why the cableco's up here are hemorrhaging subscribers.

Easy solution...

[Em Adespoton]

I've got a solution that will make everyone happy:
Have NetFlix partner with the NFB to distribute NFB content... globally. Nothing like providing global access to Canadian content. NetFlix could even provide it for free to everyone in Canada with an account but no current subscription. Under this setup, the CRTC wouldn't have a leg to stand on, as at that point, they will get their Canadian Content on NetFlix (not sure about the French/English ratio though).

HOWEVER

I'm pretty sure this really has nothing to do with NetFlix and EVERYTHING to do with the new consortium raising a Canadian NetFlix "competitor" (Shomi) whispering nasty things in the CRTC's ear. Yes, blame Rogers/Shaw for this fracas, as they're likely where the blame really lies.

Re:Hahaha

[vux984]

they'd need to get every ISP and VPN provider in the country to block access to it,

You make that sound hard.

If they block it from about 5 companies that'll cover most of the countries reasonable choices, and most of the remainder are just resellers of bandwidth from the big ones.

And blocking VPN providers? Why bother? Only a small fraction will bother using one. Just because people -can- get around it, doesn't mean most of them will bother trying.

Meanwhile the cable and dsl providers would probably jump for joy at at a government ordered netflix ban. It eliminates a significant competitor, and a huge source of bandwidth usage all in one fell swoop, and if anyone complains its the governments fault.

So no, your full of it, if you think netflix can just 'laugh in their faces'. It would be pretty easy for Canada to toss them out if they wanted to. Blocking access at the cross-border links, and seizing any netflix equipment in the country. I'm not in favor of any such draconian action, don't for a second think it isn't both possible and easy.

then continued on happily taking credit card payments and sending traffic to Canada.

Given they have to license content separately specifically to send it to Canada this would not make the slightest bit of sense. The ONLY content they can turn a 'blind eye' to, would be Canadian's paying from a US address/US card and funnelling traffic through a VPN. And they can only do THAT as long as its not a big enough issue to get them in trouble with the rights owners -- who will start demanding netflix blacklist VPN providers etc.

It's not Netflix fault that Canada doesn't produce any noteworthy cultural exports. Lots of other good stuff, sure, but TV and movies not so much.

Two words: "Hollywoord North" I mean seriously, Canada may not produce much worthwhile truly independent content but its been very successful at using Canadian content requirements coupled with tax incentives to create a pretty substantial tv/movie production industry where one would otherwise not exist, creating jobs, and funneling some money into Canada in the process.

Canadian market is too small for real pressure

[SleepyHappyDoc]

If Netflix really feels pressured, they will simply leave Canada. I suspect their Canadian revenues make up a pretty small piece of their pie. Thanks, CRTC.

Yet Another Worthless Summary

[meustrus]

Netflix appeared before the Canadian broadcast regulator today, resulting in a remarkably heated exchange, with threats of new regulation. Blah blah blah, confidential data that CRTC may or may not have right to see but we won't tell you, blah blah blah, redundant stuff, blah blah, no more information, blah blah blah, click the link if you actually want to know what the fuck we're talking about, blah blah blah...

It's pretty much impossible to expect a reasonable discussion on Slashdot when the summary is such redundant tripe. After all, nobody around here RTFA. So all we have is basically, "Netflix and CRTC had a fight about something". I'm not Canadian, I don't know anything about the CRTC or why it has any regulatory authority over Netflix, or what these ominous-sounding "regulations" might be. And I doubt every Canadian could answer those questions either.

Although considering the article itself, maybe that's actually the best the summary could do. I learned more than the article had to say just by scrolling through the existing Slashdot comments to see if anybody else had already made the comment I'm making. These being Slashdot comments, however, I'm a little scared about the value of that information.