Post Tagged with: "crtc"

The CRTC listened intently to the CFRO presentation by Robin Puga (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/8XhHm1

Does the CRTC Have the Power Regulate Online Video?: Internet Companies Set to Challenge Its Authority

Last week’s very public fight between the CRTC and Netflix escalated on Monday as Netflix refused to comply with Commission’s order to supply certain confidential information including subscriber numbers and expenditures on Canadian children’s content. While the disclosure concerns revolve around the confidentiality of the data, the far bigger issue is now whether the CRTC has the legal authority to order it to do anything at all. The response from Netflix states:

The Responses are filed voluntarily by Netflix to assist the Commission in this proceeding. The Responses are based solely on a review of the video archive of Netflix’s appearance on the CPAC web site, in view of the fact that the transcript from the hearing was not available.
The filing of the Responses is not an acknowledgment of or attornment to either the jurisdiction of the Commission by Netflix, or the substantive application of Canadian law (including the provisions of the Broadcasting Act) to Netflix. The Responses are filed strictly without prejudice to any future positions that Netflix may take.

September 23, 2014 — 15 comments — News

Bye Bye Netflix by ozcast (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/aoFMi4

The CRTC – Netflix Battle: Could It Lead to a Challenge of the CRTC’s Right to Regulate Online Video?

Netflix just concluded an appearance before the CRTC that resulted in a remarkably heated exchange between the regulator and the Internet video service. The discussion was very hostile with the CRTC repeatedly ordering Netflix to provide subscriber and other confidential information. Netflix expressed concern about the need to keep such information confidential, leaving CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais angry that anyone would doubt the ability of the regulator to maintain the information in confidence. Netflix concern in that regard was understandable given that even confidential information submitted to the CRTC is subject to a public interest test (conversely, U.S. regulators can provide guarantees of confidentiality).

As temperatures increased, the CRTC expressed disappointment over the responses from a company that it said “that takes hundreds of millions of dollars out of Canada” and implicitly threatened to regulate the company by taking away its ability to rely on the new media exception if it did not co-operate with its orders to provide confidential information.

September 19, 2014 — 51 comments — News

Television by ccharmon (CC BY-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/4TWb7g

The CRTC TalkTV Hearing: The Gap Between Can’t and Won’t

In August 1999, I wrote my first technology law column for the Globe and Mail. The column was titled The Gap Between Can’t and Won’t and it focused on the CRTC’s new media decision that was released earlier that year. The decision was the first major exploration into the applicability of conventional CRTC regulation to the Internet, with the Commission ruling that it had the statutory power to regulate some activities (such as streaming video), but it chose not to do so.

That column came to mind yesterday as I read through some of the CRTC’s TalkTV transcripts and listened to Jesse Brown’s Canadaland podcast on the prospect of a “Netflix tax.” It seems to me that both the discussions before the CRTC (particularly the CBC’s decision to urge the Commission to establish a fee-for-carriage model and a Netflix tax) and the Brown podcast with Steve Faguy fail to distinguish between the gap between can’t and won’t.

September 16, 2014 — 5 comments — News

The Netflix Screen by Mike K (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/73HcFe

The CRTC’s Future of Television Hearing Turns Into The Netflix Show

Five years ago, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission held two major hearings on new media and the Internet. The 2009 hearings, which featured contributions from the major telecom and broadcast companies in Canada, paved the way for Canadian net neutrality rules and the renewal of a regulatory exemption for new media broadcasters such as online video services.

Despite weeks of hearings, Netflix was only mentioned twice: once when it was referenced in a quote from a U.S. publication on the emergence of Internet video and a second time when a Canadian company referred to its mail-based DVD rental service.

Netflix may not have been top-of-mind in 2009, but my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that today it is seemingly the only thing the industry wants to talk about. New consumer choice of television channels was billed as the centerpiece of the CRTC’s future of television hearing, but witness after witness has turned it into The Netflix Show. Starting with the Ontario government, broadcasters, broadcast distributors, producers, and other creators have lined up to warn ominously about the impact of Netflix on the future of the Canadian television system.

September 15, 2014 — 10 comments — Columns

Conservative Party on Netflix Tax, https://twitter.com/CPC_HQ/status/509514438043791360/photo/1

Ontario Not Alone in Seeking Netflix Regulation: CBC, Government of Quebec, and Cultural Groups Making Similar Demands

The Government of Ontario’s call for regulation of online video services has generated considerable attention and a government campaign against what it is calling a “Netflix tax.” While the Government of Ontario has tried to back pedal on its request, the newly released CRTC transcript confirms that government officials were warned about the likely public response. Indeed, the following exchange with CRTC Jean-Pierre Blais foreshadowed the reaction:

THE CHAIRPERSON: To put a blunt face on it, you are inviting the CRTC to regulate Google, YouTube and Netflix, aren’t you, and what advice will you be giving your Minister later on today when the potential headline is, “Government of Ontario wants to tax Netflix” or “Government of Ontario wants to regulate the Internet”?

MR. FINNERTY: Well, in fact what we recommend is that new media broadcasting activities be regulated. We did not recommend that the Internet be regulated, but we are very clear in our submission, both our written submission and in today’s presentation, that we believe that new media broadcasting activity should be regulated to support the principles of the Broadcasting Act and to support Ontario’s very important entertainment and creative cluster.

It is worth noting that the Government of Ontario is not alone on this issue. A review of submissions from many cultural groups reveals that “regulating Netflix” is a common theme in the submissions. For example, the Government of Quebec asks the CRTC to investigate the possibility of imposing payments on online video providers:

September 10, 2014 — 10 comments — News