A group representing major foreign streaming companies told a hearing held by Canada’s broadcasting regulator on Friday that those companies shouldn’t be expected to fulfil the same responsibilities as traditional broadcasters when it comes to Canadian content.
The Motion Picture Association-Canada, which represents large streamers like Netflix, Paramount, Disney and Amazon, said the regulator should be flexible in modernizing its definition of Canadian content.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is holding a two-week public hearing on a new definition of Canadian content that began Wednesday. The proceeding is part of its work to implement the Online Streaming Act — and it is bringing tensions between traditional players and large foreign streamers out in the open.
I think trying to label on demand streaming as a public broadcaster is dumb.
You can’t control what people prefer to watch.
Broadcasters had limitations cuz you can only broadcast 1 thing at a time on a channel
You couldn’t play more than 1 TV show on the same channel, obviously.
But Netflix can serve 1000 different TV shows to 1000 different households simultaneously.
Small mind thinking.
It’s about budget allocation and it’s pretty fucking dumb that they can profit off of Canadian customers but party taxes on those revenues outside of Canada. Want to offer your services in Canada? Pay taxes in Canada, reinvest the profit in Canada or simply fuck off.
The effect is similar in both cases. Even if there’s choice for everyone to watch what they want but most of the content is US-based, Canadian content doesn’t get enough views, doesn’t make enough revenue and isn’t made anymore. Freedom of choice can mask a lot of undesirable effects. We want to keep Canadian content alive.