CRTC – mackaycartoons

Thursday February 11, 2016

February 10, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 11, 2016

Netflix border crackdown cuts off some customers, but unblocking services fight back

Yes, the Netflix crackdown on cross-border watching is real.

Customers worldwide have grown accustomed to sneaking over virtual walls to stream shows and movies restricted to other countries.

Now, Netflix is stopping some virtual travellers at the border, finally enforcing its age-old policy that says viewers aren’t allowed to access Netflix in other regions.

Meanwhile, unblocking companies that help virtual travellers defy the rules are fighting back. And some are already declaring victory in the battle to keep Netflix’s borders wide open.

Numerous customers with the unblocking company Unblock-Us started reporting technical problems soon after Netflix announced its crackdown on Jan. 14.

For a fee, unblocking services do the technical legwork to help customers hide their location so they can hop borders.

For example, the service would help a Netflix Canada customer watch Sons of Anarchy on Netflix U.S. The Canadian version doesn’t carry the show.

“Help,” wrote one border hopping customer on the Unblock-Us tech support site on Jan. 27, explaining that he lives in Toronto and can no longer stream content on Netflix UK.

Another customer posted, “I live in Norway and am currently using your service to watch American Netflix, but now it doesn’t work anymore.”

“Netflix blocked in Australia,” reported someone else.

Barbados-based Unblock-Us did not respond to CBC News’s request for comment. But a post on its site updated on Feb. 3 declared, “We have a solution.”

It said blocked customers need to contact the support team, which would “have some simple steps for you to follow” to resume service. (Source: CBC News)

Friday March 20, 2015

March 19, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 20, 2015

CRTC to require $25 ‘skinny basic’ cable package

The country’s broadcast regulator is coming out with new rules today that will require cable and satellite companies to offer customers a trimmed-down, basic channels package, sources have told The Canadian Press.

The cost of the so-called “skinny basic” package is to be capped at $25, said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is to announce details of its decision later today.

The ruling is the latest result from the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV hearings held in the fall.

The Harper government had pushed the regulator to allow for a so-called pick-and-pay system that would allow consumers to choose and pay only for the individual channels they want.

However, the CRTC hinted late last summer that it would be open to a pick-and-pay option built on top of a lighter mandatory service than what is currently being offered widely in the industry.

It’s not clear whether skinny basic would be an all-Canadian service that includes local stations and provincial educational channels, or a service that includes American networks as well.

Critics including the C.D. Howe Institute have warned that any proposals to mandate pick-and-pay channel choices would be an exercise in futility, in light of technological change. They say it could harm the industry and actually end up costing consumers more rather than less.

The CRTC has been criticized — and taken to court — over recent decisions from the Let’s Talk TV hearings, including a move to ban the simultaneous substitution of Canadian advertising for American commercials during the Super Bowl. (Source: Toronto Star)

Wednesday September 24, 2014

September 24, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 24, 2014

Netflix refuses CRTC demand to hand over subscriber data

Netflix says it won’t turn over confidential subscriber information to Canada’s broadcast regulator in order to safeguard private corporate information.

The video streaming company was ordered last week to give the data to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission by Monday, along with information related to the Canadian content it creates or provides to subscribers.

A Netflix official said Tuesday that while the company has responded to a number of CRTC requests, it is not “in a position to produce the confidential and competitively sensitive information.”

But in a statement, the company said it is “always prepared to work constructively with the commission.”

The comments came in the middle of the regulator’s “Let’s Talk TV” hearings on the future of broadcasting rules, including allowing cable customers to be able to create their own personalized cable packages. Since Netflix is not a conventional broadcaster, there’s much doubt that the Broadcasting Act that the CRTC enforces even applies to the company.

What happens now is very much in the air, University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist told the CBC in an interview Tuesday. “Netflix likely felt pushed into the corner on a bigger issue, which is the CRTC’s authority to regulate online new media,” he said.

“The issue has been simmering for about a decade, but everybody took a hands-off approach,” Geist said. “Once there was a threat from the CRTC on Friday, it really did force Netflix’s hand.” (Source: CBC News)