Netflix hasn’t been available in Canada for all that long, but the company has already seen major success and used up a lot of bandwidth in the Great White North. Canadian cable and satellite TV providers are concerned enough about the new kid in town that they’ve sent a letter to Canada’s Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requesting that Netflix become subject to traditional TV regulations.
The alliance wants Netflix to be treated like “part of the system”, which means that Netflix would need to pay into the Canada Media Fund, as well as produce and show a certain amount of Canadian content. According to Canadian broadcasting law:
“The Canadian broadcasting system should… encourage the development of Canadian expression by providing a wide range of programming that reflects Canadian attitudes, opinions, ideas, values and artistic creativity, by displaying Canadian talent in entertainment programming and by offering information and analysis concerning Canada and other countries from a Canadian point of view.”
Is this a sign of things to come as Netflix aggressively expands both at home and abroad? With the European media market also highly regulated, is Netflix going to experience some growing pains there as well?
(via GigaOM)
That is just dumb. Obviously not the same as a network – ridiculous.
Yes and yes. The existing networks are not going to like Netflix stepping on their toes and will fight back.
Will this cause Netflix to rethink producing original content?
The question should be, “Will this cause Netflix to rethink expansion where there’s oppressive legislation?”
Netflix should simply pull out of Canada and have the millions of Canadians clamoring for Netflix petition their government on Netflix’ behalf.
The local networks have to spend money in Canada, like employing Canadians, to be allowed to make money in Canada. Netflix wants to sidestep that, obviously they will undercut all other networks by doing so. Netflix and RB do very little for the local economies, Netflix especially since it’s streaming only.
Heck look at Toyota, they made cars in the USA so they could shut me up. They were not going to just take our money, they actually invested in us. Up until recently it was the only NASCAR car actually made in the USA. I still didn’t buy one though, I bought a Pontiac instead.
This is similiar to Amazon’s current tax problems.
So nay, I figure the Canadians probably want to keep their jobs.
Your analogies don’t actually work however because Toyota TOOK JOBS by costing GM car sales. Netflix isn’t taking jobs.
It’s also investing in the companies that produce the content. If Canada makes good content then Netflix can and indeed does carry it. There’s no need to legislate good entertainment. In fact it’s impossible. People watch what they like despite laws regarding the availability.
Amazon’s tax issues is another can of worms. On one hand it’s the government trying to squeeze extra cash. On the other most states legally require you to pay tax at a later time for out of state purchases. The Amazon tax in theory would have simplified enforcement. In practice it just cost some states Amazon merchant accounts, so in essence the Amazon tax LOST JOBS.
Lastly, the Canada content laws were sold to the people as a way of preserving their heritage instead of being economic factors. That is probably just political BS however.
USA GM plant workers became USA Toyota plant workers. Something Netflix isn’t going to do with the employees the Networks layoff when thier subscribers switch.
Toyota could just have made thier cars cheaper in Japan then ship them to the USA, since there are no unions demanding this and that for thier workers there, but elected not to. That’s why I respect Toyota. True they didn’t get my business but yeah I’ll respect them. The point remains that Toyota played by the same “expensive” rules as GM and still won.
Netflix is a webcast, just another form of broadcasting. Having already fulfilled thier “network” obligations most networks webcast thier “own original content” as well. The courts will rule in favor of the networks.
Netflix isn’t a network.
This is a slippery slope that Netflix needs to avoid. In the US we have a fairly strong freedom of speech ethic. Canada has more strict laws about what is considered hate propaganda, indecent content etc.. I remember people tried to get Howard Stern to talk about the Holocaust because if you say anything that isn’t government approved you get pulled from the air immediately. That’s not even getting into their strange bilingual laws. They think they have problems now, imagine if everything had to be dubbed and subtitled into French.
It’s strange that Canada has to make laws requiring people to show Canadian content. In the US we make good content so people want to see it without the need for legislation.
Even though it sounds extremist Netflix needs to either fight this one or just move out of Canada. Once they give in the precedent is set.
Have you ever been to Canada?
What does being in Canada have to do with the laws about the television industry? Canada has language laws, censorship of offensive material, and requirements about Canadian origin programing. Do you dispute that? I’m sure Canada is a lovely place to live. I just wouldn’t want to own a television station there.
This is similar actually to the issues HBO and XM had. If they buckled under to the FCC neither would exist today. Luckily the FCC lost on enough similar cases to leave the internet alone. Now Canada just has to set the same precedents.
Language laws, of course they do, they are a bilingual country. Mind you, doesn’t mean that everything has to be french dubbed, lol.
Censorship isn’t all that much different than the US for most parts. Canadians are generally much more relaxed socially than the US.
As for Netflix, even I agree that they certainly shouldn’t fall under the same Canadian Content restrictions that other Canadian Broadcasters fall under. Netflix is going to have enough problems dealing with internet bandwidth in Canada. They have already changed their steaming quality so that they are using less bandwidth.
Next step I can see the ISPs doing is throttling Netflix traffic in the evening hours so that they are allowed only a certain percentage of the available bandwidth. As more and more people sign up, their bandwidth will increase and the ISPs in Canada will simply do what has to be done so that they are not hogging the bandwidth.
In the US people are free to be Nazi’s if the want to. In Canada you go to jail for merely speaking pro-nazi. Their society may be said to be more liberal, but really they are more polite with a strong PC undercurrent.
Also the language laws do exist and I can’t find the specific statutes but Netflix would be required by law (with stiff fines that would bankrupt them) for not having dubs or subs. It seems silly to us in the USA but it is indeed true. Quebec is deeply concerned about losing their French heritage since they are surrounded by English decedents. They take it VERY seriously. There was a case not too long ago where a truck driver sued the province since his speeding ticket was in English and won a huge sum of money.
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EDMONTON — Alberta’s justice minister is reviewing a provincial court decision to strike down a 2003 traffic ticket issued to a francophone trucker because it was written only in English.
Judge Leo Wenden ruled this week that Alberta’s Languages Act and Traffic Safety Act do not apply to Gilles Caron because they are not written in French.
http://canadianpress.google.com/arti…UZlRVbZDSEGK5w
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