Broadcasters Ask CRTC to Regulate Netflix

The affordable online TV and movie service is facing heat from Big Television to be reined in by the CRTC.

Canada's television industry has urged the CRTC to charge Netflix, the popular streaming TV and movie service, the same levies and fees that traditional broadcasters pay. The group of broadcasters, including Astral Media, Rogers, and Bell Canada, sent a letter this month to the CRTC to open public consultations to determine how best to incorporate Netflix into Canada's regulatory framework. They argue that Netflix should have to pay fees that help fund Canadian television production. The CRTC ruled in February that online services like Netflix fall out of the regulator's purview, which incensed television stakeholders and stoked their fears that alternative media were biting into their market share.

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