NETFLIX SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT Tuesday, tackling some of the questions – and controversy – that have swirled since word of its $500 million production investment in original Canadian content was announced.
In a blog post entitled What Netflix’s half a billion CAD investment in Canada is really about, Corie Wright, Netflix’s director of global public policy, took issue with the notion that it received special treatment because the government didn’t attach special content quotas as part of its investment. Stressing that Netflix is an online service and not a broadcaster, Wright pointed out that online media services are not subject to traditional broadcast media regulations like quotas or content levies, and in turn, are ineligible for traditional media’s regulatory benefits.
“Internet-native, on-demand services like Netflix are consumer-driven and operate on the open internet”, she wrote. “We don’t use public property like broadcast spectrum or rights of way and we don’t receive the regulatory protections and benefits that broadcasters get (and, by the way, we’re not asking for them).”
Wright also said that Netflix’s recent price hike is completely separate from its Canadian investment, denied that the streamer made any “deals” on taxes, and, further to what she told Cartt.ca last week, that Netflix follows tax laws everywhere it operates.
“People choose what they want to watch on our service so we have to invest in the best content from around the world”, Wright continued. “We didn’t invest in Anne, Frontier, Travelers or Alias Grace (pictured) to fill a quota, we invested because they are great global stories.”
