Netflix urges contribution limit be set at two per cent at CRTC hearings

Netflix Services Canada ULC says it has invested large amounts of money into Canada's broadcasting sector and should not have to pay into contribution funds. The streaming service appeared at the CRTC’s broadcast proceedings on Thursday. Netflix director of public policy Stéphane Cardin led a delegation of executives appearing before the panel. He said the company has spent $5 billion over the past five years on Canadian programming. That works out to $2.7 million each day, he added. “We’re opposed to outcomes that would have us simply subsidize the existing framework while restricting our ability to continue to invest directly in Canadian stories,” Cardin asserted. “That’s why we believe that imposing a mandatory initial base contribution would be inconsistent with the principles of flexibility and adaptability.” The firm pledged to work with the commission to set up a new framework. It said that in other nations that have a contribution regime, the average assessment is two per cent. Cardin stated Netflix is open to supporting accessibility funds and moneys for participation but drew the line at supporting news funds. “Our understanding is that it does not require every single actor in the broadcasting system to contribute to news,” he said of the draft regulations. Spending was also paramount in the presentation by BCE Inc.'s Bell Fund. Executive director Nancy Chapelle reported the fund has issued a quarter of a billion dollars in money for Canadian production over its lifetime. “We welcome the modernized Broadcasting Act,” she told the panel. “The Bell Fund has the track record, the years of experience, the institutional knowledge and existing efficient infrastructure to be able to take immediate advantage of contributions from the foreign streamers.” CRTC chair Vicky Eatrides thanked the Fund for its appearance and congratulated Chapelle on her just-announced retirement. Getting participation from the disabled community was the focus of the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund, which has been operating since 2012. Fund chair Marcia Yale, who is blind, introduced her fellow panelists and her guide dog Nottingham to the regulatory committee. Eatrides joked that Nottingham was the first dog to appear before the commission. Change has been incremental for the disabled, the committee was told, and there is still much more to do. Accessibility gaps must be addressed. “We need to continue to move forward to improve the availability and quality of closed captioning and described video,” Yale stated. “We have barely scratched the surface of the vast potential of artificial intelligence on content accessibility and need to pursue new solutions to the complex challenges encountered by people with exceptionalities.” Following the Fund’s opening statement, the commission chair took the unusual step of describing herself for the sight-impaired members of the audience. “I’m Vicky. I am a middle-aged Greek woman with long dark hair,” she explained. “I am wearing a purple dress and a black jacket and I’m sitting at a very long rectangular table with four of my colleagues.” –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Netflix urges contribution limit be set at two per cent at CRTC hearings

Broadcast | December 1, 2023

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Netflix urges contribution limit be set at two per cent at CRTC hearings

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