Netflix may be required to pay fees in Canada

Concerns that Netflix is undermining the Canadian broadcasters' revenue model have lead to a meeting scheduled in the nation's capital on Friday to address the issue. They will decide whether the streaming video provider will be ordered to pay for local production as an online broadcaster, the Hollywood Reporter said on Thursday. The summit was called by the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) whose CEO, Norm Bolen, said the CRTC needs to order Netflix to help pay for the local industry.

"It's unfair competition," said Stephen Waddell, the national executive director of ACTRA (Canada's actors' union).

Netflix charges $8 per month to bring a wide choice of movies and TV shows, though many are older. Netflix doesn't currently need to underwrite local content production like Canadian broadcasters, cable operators and other domestic content carriers.

The CRTC may have a problem with regulating Netflix, as it ruled in 1999 that it would not have power over Internet-based media. Steps need to be taken, cable companies believe, as they are losing subscribers who are becoming so-called cable-cutters who prefer to move their media consumption to online sources.

Accessing Netflix can take up a lot of a users' relatively meager monthly Internet data allotment, urging providers to push for the introduction of usage-based billing. The CRTC measure, which was to have been imposed earlier, was widely believed to be an attempt by Internet providers like Bell and Rogers to keep subscribers on more profitable cable and satellite TV bundles.

By Electronista Staff