Right Direction

I am glad that even broadcasters are even in this for this ruling...
However, we have only won 1/3 of the battle of online television....
We still need ISP's to get better Internet Plans for cheap and higher, unlimited internet... As for the CRTC, we need them to approve Netflix as a regulated service, better intenret plans, and to stop this usage-billing crap from Bell and associates. Canadians value the internet the most, so LET US have better damn rates...

 

I am glad that even broadcasters are even in this for this ruling...
However, we have only won 1/3 of the battle of online television....
We still need ISP's to get better Internet Plans for cheap and higher, unlimited internet... As for the CRTC, we need them to approve Netflix as a regulated service, better intenret plans, and to stop this usage-billing crap from Bell and associates. Canadians value the internet the most, so LET US have better damn rates...

Why do you think regulating Netflix is a good idea?? Do you work for a cable company? What Netflix offers, and how ISPs set their rates, has absolutely nothing to do with each other, except for the fact it means more money in ISP's greedy pockets.

Personally, I think all cable companies can **** off. They've been ripping us off for way too long. Then comes an alternative, and these schmucks want it regulated to save their greedy asses.

Why do you think regulating Netflix benefits us as consumers?

What then, are they going to impose them same tight-assed censorship requirements as well? Censoring swearing and nudity, and anything else the CRTC deems inappropriate, like they've done for television? No thanks.

 

The CRTC needs to become an election issue.

 

nice...so they are acting all sucky baby b/c they, the 3rd man, are being cut out of the equation. screw them!

 

Why isn't this in Everything Else Eh?, where it belongs?

That noted, screw the broadcasters and the CRTC.

 

/facepalm

You do realize the cable companies aren't actually stupid right? Greedy yes, but not stupid. Of course they are going to spin it in such a way that it hides their agenda. Cable companies hate Netflix and want them restricted, controlled and blocked if at all possible.

Remember when they said not long ago that #UBB was actually to help out the less frequent internet users?

I have some magic beans which I will sell you for a cheap price....

 

What's that saying ... move with the times or the times moves you? Cable companies are getting moved right now. They've been doing things the same old way for decades and now they're falling back rapidly. I think because innovation costs money, they've always been reactionary rather than proactive when it comes to content distribution.

Netflix is obviously seeing some serious growth which has made them a target. Canadian content has nothing to do with why broadcasters are upset.

 

The only thing outdated is the nomenclature. Cable companies are also ISPs who offer telephone/cell and wireless service, as do Telephone companies.

They're protecting their business interests against what is essentially an unregulated television on-demand service.

 

I agree with the fact that Netflix should be regulated.

Let's jump on this request from the broadcasters and do it, to make sure Netflix never becomes one of them

And on the same token, lets also regulate the broadcasters, to ensure they can't enjoy their dominant position with huge conflict of interest controlling the broadcast, the pipes and producing the content...

Let's put an end to all that and make the broadcaster feel the backlash of their request. Just because they willingly ignore of customer's need for their own greed doesn't mean that Netflix should be penalized...

I still wonder how much money might move from pockets to pockets to make sure broadcaster keep their free run with the CRTC...

 

Talking about censoring TV, the CRTC obviously isn't censoring ALL TV. For instance kloan mentions that they censor nudity. On the usual Canadian networks, yes they do, until 10pm or so, but they certainly don't censor the adult channels such as Playboy, Penthouse, etc. So I wonder why the inconsistency? It's not like a kid isn't going to find the adult channels if he/she wants to. They must have rules for different types of content broadcasters. So then censoring shouldn't be a problem.

 

Rogers and Bell never should have been allowed to fulfil all roles as infrastructure owner, content owners AND providers for multiple utilities. It's clear to me they have so much influence on the one institution that "regulates" them that the CRTC is allowing it's own image to be tied to the shameful practices of these companies. The CRTC should have two jobs as far as I'm concerned. I'm in favour of Canadian content regulations (I have my reasons) and they should be consumer advocates. Without the latter, I can't honestly say I trust them to be looking out for Canadians so the former is moot.

Conflict of interest. Canadians suffer for it. This has to stop. Period.

 

Rogers and Bell never should have been allowed to fulfil all roles as infrastructure owner, content owners AND providers for multiple utilities.

Easier said then done. There are two infrastructures here. Cable and phone lines. In the beginning there was no need for either until ATT/Rogers & Bell had a product that needed a medium to transport. Nobody else had said product. (Canada). They had to do R&D, re-architecture over and over to get it right.

It would not have made sense for the government to procure something for a private company, that may or may not work, that would costs billions in investment, and that someone could walk away from at any time because the technology took a shift.

After that, I agree with what you are saying and I agree this could be ideal but the circumstance in which these architectures were developed would have not allowed it to be anything but a gamble.

Note: I'm not sure if ATT/Rogers was the first to use cable in Canada but for the sake of my post that is who I sued.

 

Netflix carries a lot of CBC television series, what are the traditional broadcasters yapping about?

 

I think Mr. Shaw is trying to specify that when he says (note that Shaw is NOT one of the companies that approached the CRTC):

“They have to be part of the system,” Mr. Stein said in an interview. “We all have obligations ... in terms of local programming, in terms of Canadian content, in terms of contribution to things like the Canadian Media Fund. … We think action has to be taken sooner rather than later.”

It sounds like Canadian broadcasters have certain obligations to fulfill, which puts them at a disadvantage with Netflix. If this is true, I agree with them that Netflix should be regulated as they seem to be a broadcaster just like the rest of the Canadian broadcasters. Why should Netflix be treated any different. For example, if all Canadian broadcasters are paying into the Canadian Media Fund, why shouldn't Netflix.

 

There's one BIG distinction between the services offered by the cable companies and Netflix. Netflix doesn't broadcast. Yes cable companies have some (really incredibly lame and way overpriced) on demand type services but that's about the only overlap there. It's a whole different ballgame. Are the cable companies regulated on their on demand service? For example are they forced to show Canadian ads on it? No .. because there are no ads. Do they enforce that customers can only view a certain amount of non-canadian content before they then are forced to watch a canadian made offering? No again. Are they forced to offer a minimum percentage of Canadian content in the on-demand service? No again. With on demand you can watch whatever they are offering with no CC restrictions. Given that why do the cable companies feel that there should be regulation for a different provider's on-demand content?

The cable companies are starting to grasp at straws because people are moving on. They have incredibly overpriced services and for the most part pretty poor quality and the consumers are talking with their $$. $7.99 a month for netflix and you get an "all you can eat" amount of content (provided you have the bandwidth, etc), what can you get for $7.99 from a cable company? If you're lucky maybe one on demand movie ... but only if you're already paying them huge amounts every month and have their "rental" equipment that works to view it (which you pay for once again). It's nothing but a huge racket IMHO. I stopped paying cable companies years ago and never looked back. I can buy the content I want on DVD/Blu-Ray for considerably less money, watch it without commercial interruptions and in much better quality on my own schedule. Welcome to the 21st century cable TV providers.

If Netflix gets "regulated" then what about youtube? What about other video sites? What about people that post their own videos on their own websites? Where does the line get drawn. This is a very slippery slope that could lead to all kinds of nasties.

 

The other problem, like someone above said, is that we have broadcasters (networks) and content providers (cable companies, satellite companies) owned by the same company nowadays, which blurs the lines, so how can you tell which is which?

 

Again ... it's not about whether or not you save the file before you view it. If your device (AppleTV, Computer, iPad, set top box) is making a one-to-one type request for a specific video, and then in turn get's that video sent to your device, and not out to the general public and/or not accessible to more than that single device, it's really not a broadcast. A broadcast is when a specific video (or piece of audio for that matter) is being sent out in a manner that people can "tune in" to it then it's a broadcast. When apple was doing live event simulcasts they might have been called a broadcaster, but that's about it. All of this one-to-one type relationship between servers and devices over a network is not broadcasting.

 

As someone once told me, you can't stop the internet.

Either properly embrace it, or you'll go the way of the dinosaur.

Guys like Rogers are going to miss the boat. So far, their efforts for on-demand content have been really abysmal.

I shall be doing some letter writing to prevent the CRTC from meddling with Netflix.

 

I think Rogers has already missed the boat so long ago that it's sailed away without them ... as the internet did to a lot of the print journalism world it will also do to the broadcast world. If you don't embrace the times and the technology and don't provide for the consumer demand, especially with so much choice these days, you will lose every time. People are not going to continue paying $100/month or more to get force fed a ton of crap they don't want for that much longer. When it comes to media we truly live in an a-la-carté world and the big cable/satellite providers are failing miserably at providing what people want in a cost effective manner. The approach they take, namely "Oh ... you want this channel ... well then you need all this other crap too, err I mean this bundle" really aren't going to wash for much longer. Especially not when you can pay Netflix < $8 a month for a pretty large catalog, or buy a whole season of your favourite TV show -- and keep the media to watch again whenever you want) for as little as $20-30 with no commercials, better quality, etc. With the cable service in my area Netflix is actually better quality than most of the stuff I was getting to be honest, and best of all ... no commercials!

 

I think Rogers has already missed the boat so long ago that it's sailed away without them ...

Wish it were just that simple, but if technological progress is a boat sailing away, Rogers and Bell are the Kracken.

They've proven consistently time and again they can't be trusted with the security of their users information, they gouge and extort their own customers, they fail to provide fair market pricing or even keep loyal customers without resorting to 3 year contracts. And now we let them make their own rules about limiting the competition when someone charges something in the neightnourhood of what a product is actually worth?

There's nothin on TV that makes it worth 60-100 per month. Software with ads are free, that use to be the case with TV too. The only reason i'd ever start paying for cable again is if they abolished the current ad format. And I'm voting with my dollars. No TV for two years and counting.

 

If the broadcasters were smart (I know, its a dream world), they would be implimenting their own services to compete with Netflix.

Granted Netflix has a wide range of series available, there are still a large number of movies and TV shows which are not available. If one of these companies were smart, they have the opportunity to compete with Netflix by providing more and/or different content. Granted they would have to pay for licensing, but its not like they couldn't afford to develop something like that. Have advertising on the interface for some additional advertising revenue.

They could offer discounts or reduced rates to customers who get their internet and media through them; $7.99/month for service, $5.99/month for those using Bell/Aliant internet.

Throw in sport events as well. We can already watch quite a bit online, so add them as additional selections to lure in the sport fans. Allow people to watch the events live, or after the fact.

Instead of functioning in our capitalist economy, broadcasters want Big Brother to stomp out any changes they don't like. Even if they have an opportunity to profit from this change. They have known this day would come for some time, given how things have evolved south of the border. It's their own fault for not preparing for this change.

I just hope our government will prevent the broadcasters from delaying the inevitable by making customers pay more for less.

 

I have had Bell TV for 15 years and never once rented a movie. Why? They're too expensive, but now I pay Netflix $8 and love it. I cancelled all my movie channels too on Bell. The thing is if Bell had half a brain, they would shut down their movie channels and offer a Netflix like service for $7 a month and be rolling in new customers, likely more than offsetting their expensive movie rental losses.

 

More to the point, they'd cancel their ridiculously expensive buy-in for monthly cable when iTunes is simply free. Rent what you want, when you want. As opposed to a 1 year contract at $35+++++++++++++++++++... you get the idea.

Honestly between Netflix and iTunes, there's not a lot else out there that I feel I'm missing. And I think they priced Netflix just about perfectly given the selection. I'd probably be willing to pay a maximum of $12 per month before I felt it was no longer worth the overhead.

 

Is the CRTC still run by ex-Bell and ex-Rogers Executives? I know it used to be, and that scares me.

 

LMGTFY

Commissioners and Secretary General

 

I'm not sure why whether a firm is a broadcaster or not makes a difference. Aren't they all content providers? And if Netflix wins, and doesn't pay into Canadian media funds, what will be the outcome and will we like that outcome?

 

I would like the outcome, it lets the viewers choose what they want vs being forced fed Canadian content just because I am in Canada. Let the Canadian content creators stand on their own and create a great product, instead of creating crap. Again I have said this before, what is the difference between what the CRTC does in forcing Canadian content down our throats and what some communist countries do?

I truly believe that people should be allowed to choose what they want to see and hear, and not being told what to watch or listen to. This is freedom.

CRTC needs to go, and Canadian content creators need to stand on their own 2 feet and stop having my tax dollars pay their bills. Let ratings and viewership decide if you are good enough.

I don't see why it would be a problem for Netflix to provide some Canadian content. They just have to include a certain amount of Canadian movies and TV shows. Maybe even have a menu option for Canadian Movies and Canadain TV. I'd browse sections like that.

And they do already, there are a few CBC shows on there, one is Being Erica.

 

I don't see why it would be a problem for Netflix to provide some Canadian content. They just have to include a certain amount of Canadian movies and TV shows. Maybe even have a menu option for Canadian Movies and Canadain TV. I'd browse sections like that.