Netflix tells gov’t it plays positive role in Canadian productions

Canada is one of Netflix Inc.’s top three locations for original productions, and while the company doesn’t play a part in the official Canadian content system, the dollars invested in productions classified as CanCon serve to “multiply the impact of public support,” according to a submission from the company to Canadian Heritage’s sweeping cultural review.

Anglophones spend two thirds of time on Netflix on TV content: MTM

Anglophone viewers of Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service now spend 67 per cent of their time on the platform watching TV shows and 33 per cent watching movies and other content, MTM, a project of CBC/Radio-Canada, reported Wednesday.

In comparison, three years ago, viewers’ time on Netflix was evenly split between TV and movies. 

ISP tax possible as part of CanCon review, Joly says

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said Thursday that imposing a tax on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to fund cultural content remains a possible outcome of her sweeping review of Canadian content in a digital age.

Netflix now on SaskTel set-top box

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. said Thursday that subscribers of its infiNET maxTV set-top box will now have access to Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top service (OTT). 

Google not ‘grabbing’ media revenue, VP tells MPs

OTTAWA — Creating the oft-asked-for level playing field by making foreign digital services subject to Canadian sales tax would hurt smaller companies trying to break into the country’s market, a House of Commons committee heard Tuesday from a representative of Alphabet Inc.’s Google Canada.

Internet companies reach out to new U.S. leadership

An organization representing four-dozen major online-based companies has reached out to president-elect Donald Trump, congratulating him on his victory while proposing digital policy planks for his administration to consider.

Telus launches 4K Netflix set-top viewing

Telus Corp. announced Monday that is making Netflix Inc.’s app available on its Optik 4K set-top box, allowing subscribers to stream Netflix in 4K resolution.

“4K is the ultimate way to immerse yourself in your favourite TV shows and introducing hundreds of hours of top-tier 4K Netflix programming is a huge step forward in the evolution of Optik TV,” Blair Miller, Telus’ vice-president of content, said in Monday’s press release.

Wireless industry needs ‘stick’ to boost rural coverage: MP

OTTAWA — While traditionally, government funding has been directed to boost fixed Internet service, perhaps there should be some public assistance for improving wireless coverage, a member of Parliament mused Thursday as the Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association (CWTA) appeared in front of parliamentarians.

Trudeau responds to CIPF concern

Even though the CRTC is an arms-length organization, there is “a lot this government can do directly to support artists and creators across this country,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, in response to a question about the CRTC’s recent changes to the certified independent production fund (CIPF) framework.

Netflix should pay taxes: CUPE

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is suggesting Netflix Inc. be taxed, as it calls on the government to take action.

Netflix is benefiting from Canadian tax exemptions and a lack of regulation, while the CRTC stands idle as the American media giant does business “without contributing to the funding of Canadian programming or being required to offer a minimum amount of made-in-Canada content,” the union said in an Oct. 20 press release.

CIPF criticism ‘misleading,’ Blais tells committee

OTTAWA — CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais defended the rationale and timing of the regulator’s controversial decision to change the eligibility requirements to access certified independent production funds (CIPFs) in face of pointed questions from members of Parliament Thursday morning.

CraveTV profitability still uncertain after Shomi exit: Desjardins

While CraveTV should have an easier time competing in the over-the-top (OTT) space now that Shomi will cease operation, Netflix Inc.’s offering still leaves doubt about the profitability of BCE Inc.’s service, says a Desjardins analyst.

Rogers offering some Shomi customers free Netflix

In the wake of the announced shuttering of its streaming service, Shomi, Rogers Communications Inc. is offering some customers six months of free access to Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service.

Rogers spokesman Andrew Garas said in an email the company is “reaching out to eligible customers who are on a contract letting them know we’re offering six months of Netflix on us, plus more premium experiences to come in 2017 for the remainder of their contract.”

Shomi had 900,000 subs, company says

As Shomi shuts down, experts point to strong competition in OTT

Shomi, the joint Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. over-the-top (OTT) video service, will shut down on Nov. 30, the service announced Monday afternoon, in a move some industry experts said wasn’t completely out of the blue.

Class action targets automatic service price adjustment

Lawyers are asking a Quebec court to allow a class action lawsuit against companies that they allege are violating the province’s consumer protection laws by requiring customers to take the initiative to cancel services after fixed promotional periods.

Canadian content finding home internationally via OTT: report

Canadian content producers who find audiences internationally are benefitting from over-the-top (OTT) services, according to a report examining the impact of OTT platforms on global video production.

The report, published Tuesday by the Boston Consulting Group, noted that “English content travels comparatively easily across borders,” leaving Canadian and U.K. producers in a good position to “further monetize their libraries by selling content abroad in first- and second-run windows.”

CBC ‘can’t stand still,’ Lacroix says on shift to digital

MONTREAL — As technological change accelerates, CBC/Radio-Canada has to keep pace, according to CEO Hubert Lacroix, who said Thursday “we can’t think of the public broadcaster as one driven by legacy assets.”

“We can’t stand still,” Lacroix said in an interview at the Public Broadcasters International conference, which is being hosted by CBC in Montreal this week. The focus for this year’s two-day event is how public broadcasters can reach the digital generation.

Wireline data caps have no legitimate purpose, Netflix tells FCC

Netflix Inc. argued that data caps are an “unnecessary constraint on advanced telecommunications capability” in a filing with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Bell releases ultra high-def PVR

BCE Inc. customers can now take advantage of the “world’s first fully wireless [Internet protocol TV] service,” the company said Monday.

In a press release, Bell said a wireless 4K Whole Home PVR was now available for Fibe TV customers, offering “up to 150 hours of 4K recording capacity and Bluetooth remote that enables out-of-sight positioning of the PVR.”

CBC, Netflix team up to take Anne around the world

Netflix Inc. and CBC/Radio-Canada are partnering with Northwood Entertainment for a new TV series based on the classic Canadian novel Anne of Green Gables.

The show will be broadcast in Canada on the CBC in 2017 and stream globally on Netflix’s over-the-top service, said a Monday press release.

Production on the eight hour-long episodes is scheduled to begin in September in Ontario, the release said.

10% confused over definition of OTT: MTM

Confusion over what qualifies as watching TV online has led Media Technology Monitor to revise some previously reported data about over-the-top (OTT) services.

In a Thursday report, the CBC/Radio-Canada research project said about 10 per cent of English-speaking Canadians, especially those over the age of 50, “still stated they don’t watch online TV during our survey, even after being prompted that OTT services are a form of online television.”

SVOD revenues to double by 2021: Juniper

Subscription video-on-demand service (SVOD) revenues will double by 2021, as broadcasters and TV network providers look to enter the market amid a trend in cord cutting and shaving, according to a new report.

Juniper Research Ltd. found that revenues from such services, including those operated by Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., will more than double in five years to $34.6 billion US, from $14.6 billion US this year.

MTS to offer Netflix on set-top box

Manitoba Telecommunications Services Inc. will begin offering Netflix Inc.’s streaming service directly on its set-top box.

The company said in a press release Thursday that the move “removes the hassle of having to switch video inputs or purchase additional hardware.”

It added that it was the “only Manitoba television provider to offer direct access to Netflix.”

Orange is the New Black premiere had 6.7M viewers: Nielsen

Nielsen Co. says the season premiere of Netflix Inc.’s Orange is the New Black drew 6.7 million viewers in the United States in its first two days.

Netflix doesn’t release its audience numbers, but at a client presentation last week Nielsen disclosed ratings data about specific programs, according the Wall Street Journal.

Canada ‘falling behind’ countries with Netflix tax: think tank

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says Canada should follow the example of the European Union and countries like New Zealand and Australia in requiring over-the-top (OTT) services to pay taxes in Canada.

If Netflix Inc. were to pay a 13-per-cent HST tax, that would amount to “some $62.4 to $90.48 million per year in value-added taxes,” the centre’s June 21 report said.

Netflix hold on network traffic shrinks, but remains dominant: report

Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service continued to lead peak period network traffic, but the percentage of traffic has declined since late 2015, according to a new Global Internet Phenomena report by Sandvine Inc.

CBC and Netflix to co-produce miniseries

CBC/Radio-Canada is teaming up with Netflix Inc. and Halfire Entertainment to produce a miniseries based on a Margaret Atwood book.

Production will begin in Ontario in August, the broadcaster said in a press release Tuesday.

CBC will broadcast the six-hour show, called Alias Grace, in Canada, while Netflix will carry it outside the country, it added.

Anglophone TV subs fall to 73%: MTM

The number of anglophones subscribing to TV service continues to fall, according to a new report by Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a project of CBC/Radio-Canada.

Tax, content requirements for foreign OTT not included in Heritage review

When Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said “there will be no Netflix tax,” at the end of her department’s review of cultural institutions, that leaves both the taxation of foreign streaming services and the requirement for those services to pay into Canadian content creation off the table.

Pierre-Olivier Herbert, spokesman for Joly confirmed in an email that Heritage is “not considering either option.”

Shomi, Crave in fewer than 1M households: SRG

Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc. estimates fewer than one million Canadian households are currently subscribers to BCE Inc.’s CraveTV and Rogers Communications Inc.’s and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi.

U.S. court upholds FCC net neutrality rules

A U.S. appeals court has denied an industry appeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules.

Canadian support for CanCon doesn’t extend to online media: poll

The majority of Canadians doesn’t believe that online media, such as Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service or music streaming services like Spotify AB's, should fall under the same Canadian content rules as traditional media outlets, suggest the results of a new public opinion poll.

Netflix takes original series to U.S. TV

Netflix Inc. has teamed up with Univision Communications Inc. in its first deal to bring original programming from the company’s over-the-top (OTT) service to traditional TV in the United States.

Netflix introduces wireless data controls

Netflix Inc. subscribers can now regulate how much wireless data they use in the newest version of the company’s Android and iOS application.

As of May 5, the mobile app users could take advantage of “added controls to help you manage streaming data usage on cellular networks,” said the Netflix app update’s release notes.

Heritage’s CanCon review could take a decade to play out, panel hears

OTTAWA — The results of the sweeping review of Canadian content in a digital age announced by Heritage Canada last week could take 10 years to materialize, University of Ottawa law professor Jeremy deBeer said Thursday during a panel discussion at the New Developments in Communications Law and Policy conference.

Netflix ending grandfathered subscription pricing

Next month, long-time Netflix Inc. subscribers will be notified of a price hike to their monthly bill, with subscriptions going from $7.99 per month to $9.99 per month, the company confirmed in an email Monday.

The price update will roll out based on member billing periods, Netflix said, adding that customers will have the option of paying $9.99 for a high-definition plan or continuing to pay $7.99 for a standard-definition plan.

As streaming services grow, is TV-everywhere still relevant?

When companies launched TV-everywhere products a few years ago, they did so as part of an effort to compete with then-new streaming services — but now that many of those same companies have their own subscription OTT products, TV everywhere seems to be stuck in something of a holding pattern.

Despite companies continuing to push TV-everywhere products, people aren’t using them any more than when they were first introduced. And while awareness of individual platforms remains steady, the general idea of TV everywhere is falling off the radar.

Government to consult on impact of ‘digital shift’ on media sector

The federal government will hold a consultation on the Internet's effect on Canada’s media industry.

According to a transcript, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said in question period Wednesday that the government would “launch a public consultation on the digital shift in order to… really understand the impact the Internet may have on users and creators in general.”

How could the Netflix proxy ban affect Canadian OTT?

The Netflix Inc. crackdown on virtual-private-network (VPN) use could provide an opportunity for Canadian providers to carve out more of the over-the-top (OTT) market, though a lack of firm figures makes predictions difficult.

TV advertising needs better metrics, execs say

While advertising will remain a key part of the TV ecosystem, the television industry will have to provide better audience data in order to keep up with digital competition, said Barbara Williams, president of Shaw Communications Inc.’s media division.

“The future is not ad-free,” Williams said during a panel discussion on Thursday at the annual conference of the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), formerly known as the Canadian Media Production Association.

Growth in telecom to lag behind economy: Conference Board

According to the Conference Board of Canada, high debt levels and weak job prospects will make it difficult for Canadians to increase spending on telecom services in 2016, limiting industry growth.

A new report said the"industry’s pace of growth has slowed remarkably in recent years, from an increase of more than [four] per cent in 2010 to a mere 0.4 per cent” the Conference Board forecasts for 2015.

As CBC’s funding increases, will it have to change course?

Following last fall’s election, the government is set to boost CBC/Radio-Canada's funding, but when that will happen and under what conditions is unclear. It also remains to be seen whether the public broadcaster will continue the long-term plan it began under the former Conservative government.

The new Liberal government plans to hold a consultation prior to making additional funding available, though it’s not disclosing when it will happen, how comprehensive that consultation will be or how it might affect CBC’s current plans.

Netflix says VPNs, proxies will no longer work

Netflix Inc. said Thursday that it will soon be employing technology that stops users from bypassing conditions that restrict some content from being seen in certain locations.

David Fullagar, its vice-president of content-delivery architecture, said in a blog post that "in coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are."

TV regulatory changes could cost 15,000 jobs: report

New CRTC regulatory changes from the Let’s Talk TV decisions could lead to a loss of more than 15,000 Canadian jobs and take $1.4 billion from the Canadian economy annually by 2020, according to a new report released Tuesday that was co-authored by independent TV consultant Peter Miller and research company Nordicity.

Content on multiple platforms can lower future revenue: report

Having premium content on linear TV and on over-the-top (OTT) services can cause adverse effects on revenue growth and will cause consumers to expect lower costs for premium TV content, according to a new report from Needham & Co. LLC.

Netflix says new process will waste less bandwidth

Netflix Inc. is re-encoding its entire library of content in order to provide customers with a better experience for watching content while using less bandwidth to process it. 

The company said in a blog Monday that the process is called per-title encoding, in which an analysis of every title that is available was conducted in order to determine the quality and the amount of bandwidth required for it to be streamed.

Bell adds Netflix link to IPTV services

BCE Inc. announced Monday that subscribers of Bell’s Fibe TV and Bell Alliant’s FibreOP TV will have access to their Netflix Inc. account directly from their TV receivers.

It said in the release that all Fibe TV receivers have been upgraded to access the video streaming service, and added that customers have to press the apps button on their Fibe or Fibre OP TV remote.

Shaw provides better public WiFi for premium plans

Shaw Communications Inc. announced Wednesday that all customers who are subscribed to its Internet 30, or any broadband Internet plan above that, will have access to download speeds six times faster when connected to any of the 75,000 Shaw Go WiFi hotspot across Western Canada.

Distant TV signals losing value, service providers say

OTTAWA — Canada's major TV service providers argued before the Copyright Board of Canada on Monday that they should pay less for distant-TV signals because these channels are losing value as more viewing options become available to consumers.

It was the fifth day of a hearing scheduled to last until Friday, along with final arguments slated for Jan. 26 and 27.

Broadcasters advised to ‘pick their winners’ as pick-and-pay approaches

As the Canadian TV industry approaches an era where customers have more choice over the channels they subscribe to, large broadcasters should “pick their winners” and consolidate into a smaller number of channels, a new report from RBC Capital Markets says.  

HBO deal bolsters CraveTV against Shomi, Netflix: experts

BCE Inc.’s move to acquire exclusive rights to HBO programming on all platforms and become the sole operator of HBO Canada will make its CraveTV over-the-top (OTT) service more competitive against rivals, experts said.

Having national HBO rights should “bolster the competitive position of CraveTV relative to other OTT services,” such as Netflix and Shomi, especially when CraveTV launches as a stand-alone service next year, RBC Dominion Securities analyst Drew McReynolds said in a research note.

IPTV, Netflix adoption lower in Ontario: MTM

Ontario residents are not moving as fast toward newer ways of getting TV content, such as IPTV and Netflix, as other parts of the Canada, according to newly released figures.

Most francophones consume some English media: survey

Most French-speaking Canadians watch some English television and film, and most of those do so at least once a week, according to a newly released survey.

CBC/Radio-Canada's Media Technology Monitor said in a report released Thursday that 60 per cent of francophones in Canada reported viewing English TV or film, and 66 per cent of those who said they consumed English content did so on a weekly basis.

Netflix profit halved from year ago

Netflix Inc. reported 30 per cent annual growth in quarterly revenue on Wednesday, though its net profit in the third quarter was half of what it was at the same time in 2014.

The over-the-top (OTT) streaming company said in a letter to shareholders posted on its website that revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $1.58 billion US, up from $1.22 billion US a year before. Net earnings were $29 million US, compared to $59 million US in the third quarter of 2014.

Rogers dives into 4K video, gigabit Internet

Rogers Communications Inc. on Monday announced it is moving forward with two different kinds of technology — 4K video and gigabit-speed Internet — though one commentator says the success of either of these initiatives is uncertain.

Rogers CEO Guy Laurence said during a live-streamed press conference from Rogers Centre in Toronto — home of the Blue Jays baseball team — that 40 per cent of television sets sold in Canada this holiday season will be 4K.

"This is going to be a 4K Christmas," Laurence said.

Netflix customers should voluntarily pay sales tax: report

Canadian customers of Netflix Inc. are theoretically obliged to pay sales taxes on this service, even though Netflix does not collect the tax up front, the Toronto Star quoted a federal official as saying.

"In such cases, Canadian consumers are required to self-assess the amount of tax they owe to the Canada Revenue Agency,” a Finance Canada spokesperson, who did not want to be named, is quoted as saying in an article posted online Monday.

Bell mobile-TV opponents call it OTT service