Bell Media President Says Canadians Are 'Stealing' US Netflix Content

iONiUM writes: Today the Bell Media president claimed that Canadians are "stealing" U.S. Netflix, saying the practice is "stealing just like stealing anything else." She went on to say that it is socially unacceptable behavior, and "It has to become socially unacceptable to admit to another human being that you are VPNing into U.S. Netflix. Like throwing garbage out of your car window, you just don't do it. We have to get engaged and tell people they're stealing." Of course, I'm sure the fact that Bell Media profits from Canadian content has nothing to do with these remarks.

Comments

Socially Acceptable

[bigfinger76]

No, it's socially acceptable behavior. The industry may have disdain for it, but it is absolutely not frowned upon by society.

Re:Socially Acceptable

[Austerity Empowers]

Not only not frowned upon, it's actively beneficial to all parties. The "problem" is market based pricing and region lockouts. That actively is socially unacceptable, unfortunately that doesn't really stop the idiots in question.

Re:Socially Acceptable

[Grishnakh]

Not only not frowned upon, it's actively beneficial to all parties. The "problem" is market based pricing and region lockouts.

Wrong, this "stealing" is detrimental to certain media companies who seek to profit from region lockouts and market based pricing. That's why they want to make it socially unacceptable to use a VPN to evade region lockouts.

This is ridiculous

[ZorinLynx]

- You are paying for the content. The same amount a customer in the US would pay.

- You are watching the content.

Why is this suddenly "stealing" if you are in Canada? It's the same content, and the content makers are getting the same money.

Re:This is ridiculous

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Apparently, the head of a company that produces Canadian TV is butthurt about the fact that Canadians will go to extra inconvenience to avoid being stuck with her product and gain access to the US market. Intellectually dishonest and largely nonsensical argument; but the motives are clear enough.

Re:This is ridiculous

[Penguinisto]

Because the packets crossed an imaginary geophysical line to get to you, that's why!

Now be a good citizen and support proper balkaniz^M taxatio^M patriotism!

Re:This is ridiculous

[Dunbal]

Why is this suddenly "stealing" if you are in Canada? It's the same content, and the content makers are getting the same money.

Because Bell Media which owns a television statement and has paid money for episodes of, say, Futurama, is pissed off that you can watch Futurama in Canada via Netflix and not only do they not get a cut, but they don't get to claim you as an ad viewer so they can bilk I mean charge their ad customers for you. They are a middleman, a dinosaur, and part of a broadcasting system that is increasingly irrelevant. If anyone is "stealing" it's these middlemen that produce no content and add no actual value, yet manage to slink their hand in your pocket every month.

Re:This is ridiculous

[Dunbal]

Unfortunately it works the way the money says it does. I wouldn't be surprised if the Canadian government suddenly sees the light and is persuaded to enforce criminal charges on VPN streamers. After all, who knows what other dirty little tricks they are getting up to on their VPNs. They're probably all terrorists anyway.

Good luck with that.

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

She is going to need a downright brilliant propaganda team to convince anyone that paying for netflix is 'stealing'; just because she doesn't like it.

There's really not much difference between using a VPN to gain access to US electronic markets and using a car to gain access to US malls. Is it 'stealing' when a Canadian drives across the border and buys something in the US? Even by the standards of self-interested bullshit from incumbent monopolist assholes, this is unimpressive work.

Re:Good luck with that.

[Dunbal]

Yeah you'd think these media giants would come out with their own streaming services instead of trying to fight the tide. Old-school top down TV is dead. People are sick of their shows being time-slotted according to some arbitrary station policy, are sick of having to wait weeks for the "next episode", are sick of not being able to re-watch a favorite episode and are sick of ads. Internet streaming is the future. Adapt or die.

Re:Hu ?

[amiga3D]

She didn't get her cut.

Re:"stealing just like stealing anything else"

[msauve]

" Don't believe me? Read Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution."

I don't believe you when you imply that the US Constitution applies to Canada, which is what the article covers. You'd do better to refer to the Statute of Anne, as Canada is a Commonwealth country.

Re:"stealing just like stealing anything else"

[FredGauss]

"At least if nothing else, this has convinced me to NEVER sign up for any Bell services."

And of course this "moral stand" has nothing to do with subscriptions for Bell services...
or maybe the fact that Bell is actively trying to gain traction for their own brew of Netflix (CraveTV) is mere coincidence.

Market Segmentation should be socially unacceptabl

[foreverdisillusioned]

Anyone who has passed an economics 101 class (micro or macro) should be grasp how this consumer discrimination stuff works: if the producer is able to discriminate against certain customers and offer different prices (and/or different products) then they are able to keep more surplus for themselves. It's blatantly anti-capitalistic in method and intent. If they are able to prevent arbitrage, if they can select and choose who has to pay how much and how (with no option of second sale), the free market breaks down entirely and what you end up with is simply one group fleecing another.

It's unfortunate that the left doesn't have a good pejorative (as with "socialist" or "communist") to describe the right's anti-capitalist bullshit. Phrases like "corporate greed" are way too vague for this kind of thing.

What is actually socially unacceptable

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, its socially UNACCEPTABLE to do the following

Use copyright law to hold a piece of music (happy birthday) or a cartoon character (mickey mouse) as yours in perpetuaty

Set up the identical service in different countries, with vastly different content, and then PREVENT users outside that country any way to pay for or access that service

Release movies on different dates, and expect people in other countries to wait weeks or months to pay to see that movie in their local theatre

The digital economy is here to stay, don't fight it, embrace it. If you fight it, your users will just find a way to get around your stupid protections. And there is simply NO way to write proper protections, since everything boils down to a yes/no question, and I can trivially NOP out the method used to determine the answer, and just always pass back a YES.

Re:"stealing just like stealing anything else"

[vux984]

But remember, when you do Netflix over a VPN, you are not importing a physical disk, but the logical data. It's very likely you are violating the terms of your Netflix subscription

No question its a violation of my netflix subscription. But that is not even slightly illegal. They are welcome to terminate me as a customer if they don't want my money.

as well as infringing on the copyright holder's rights to control where the work can be streamed

Nope. Its being streamed in the USA. Once it hits my VPN its on my private network. The copyright holder has no streaming rights on the flow of information from the point at which i receive the stream to the point at which i view it. Just as I don't need a streaming license to transfer the data from the computer along a vga cable to the TV.

but the copyright holder can sue you to recover damages.

Sure. What damages though? I paid them for content that wasn't otherwise available; that I consumed in the privacy of my home. What material harm are they going to show the court exactly?