tv

Tuesday February 21, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 21, 2022

Netflix Canada is cracking down on password sharing

Gone are the days where one Netflix account could be shared amongst people who don’t share the same roof.

September 29, 2017

Netflix Canada began informing users earlier this month via email stating their accounts would be limited to users they lived with. This comes as the streaming service reports declining revenue, and as Netflix seeks to grow subscribers after years of relying on password sharing to build word-of-mouth for its TV series and films.

“Got home and was kicked off the family Netflix,” one user tweeted Thursday morning about the crackdown.

“Have to cancel my Netflix because they gave me 10 days notice to sign into my primary location and I am away right now,” tweeted another. “Whose idea was this?”

Of course, it was the streaming giant’s idea, and one it says was prompted by its exploration of how to address the issue of password sharing that impacts the “ability to invest in great new TV and films.

”But it’s not going over well some with subscribers, who also fear competing streaming services will follow suit and lock their loved ones out of their accounts.”

September 24, 2014

Netflix says more than 100 million households share accounts, and began “exploring different approaches” to address the issue in Latin America over the last year.

In the coming months, Netflix users in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain will be reminded “a Netflix account is intended for one household” and members will have to set a primary location.

Under the rules, premium and standard account holders can “buy an extra member slot” for $7.99 per month each.

For that price, premium high-definition 4K subscribers — who pay $20.99 per month — can add up to two members who don’t live in their household.

Standard subscribers, who pay $16.49 per month, can add one additional member for the same additional monthly fee.

Basic plans, which cost $9.99, and ad-supported plans, which cost $5.99, will not be able to add more members. (Toronto Star) 

 

Saturday October 17, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Saturday October 17, 2015 Liberal Justin Trudeau on verge of victory despite starting campaign as underdog In March 2012, Justin Trudeau, then simply the Liberal MP for MontrealÕs Papineau constituency, agreed to take part in a televised boxing match to raise funds for a cancer charity. The pundits favoured his opponent, Patrick Brazeau, a Conservative senator with a scrapperÕs build. But by the time the referee ended the fight, midway through the third round, it was Mr Trudeau, the privileged boy, who was landing punches. ÒEveryone assumed Trudeau would lose,Ó said Adam Radwanski, a columnist for CanadaÕs Globe and Mail newspaper. ÒBut heÕd trained hard. He looked like a guy who knew what he was doing.Ó ItÕs a narrative that has repeated itself in this yearÕs Canadian general election. Now his partyÕs leader, Mr Trudeau entered the summer as the underdog: the Liberals languished in third place in the polls, while their frontman was written off as a political lightweight. But he has held his own during the leadersÕ debates, looked at home on the campaign trail and, after results come in on Monday night, is expected to be CanadaÕs next Prime Minister. A national poll by Nanos recently put Mr TrudeauÕs Liberals at 37.1 per cent, ahead of the Conservatives led by incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, at 29.4 per cent, with the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) trailing at 23.7 per cent. Whoever wins is likely to preside over a minority government. To many this must look like destiny: Mr Trudeau, 43, is the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, who served twice as Prime Minister for more than 15 years between 1968 and 1984. For much of his life, however, the son seemed more likely to take after his mother, Margaret, an author, actress and TV personality who hung out with the Rolling Stones, and had love affairs with Ted Kennedy and Jack Nicholson. Born on Christmas Day 1971 and raised at the Canadian

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 17, 2015

Liberal Justin Trudeau on verge of victory despite starting campaign as underdog

In March 2012, Justin Trudeau, then simply the Liberal MP for Montreal’s Papineau constituency, agreed to take part in a televised boxing match to raise funds for a cancer charity. The pundits favoured his opponent, Patrick Brazeau, a Conservative senator with a scrapper’s build. But by the time the referee ended the fight, midway through the third round, it was Mr Trudeau, the privileged boy, who was landing punches.

“Everyone assumed Trudeau would lose,” said Adam Radwanski, a columnist for Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper. “But he’d trained hard. He looked like a guy who knew what he was doing.”

JustinTrudeau-GalleryIt’s a narrative that has repeated itself in this year’s Canadian general election. Now his party’s leader, Mr Trudeau entered the summer as the underdog: the Liberals languished in third place in the polls, while their frontman was written off as a political lightweight. But he has held his own during the leaders’ debates, looked at home on the campaign trail and, after results come in on Monday night, is expected to be Canada’s next Prime Minister.

A national poll by Nanos recently put Mr Trudeau’s Liberals at 37.1 per cent, ahead of the Conservatives led by incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, at 29.4 per cent, with the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) trailing at 23.7 per cent. Whoever wins is likely to preside over a minority government.

To many this must look like destiny: Mr Trudeau, 43, is the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, who served twice as Prime Minister for more than 15 years between 1968 and 1984. For much of his life, however, the son seemed more likely to take after his mother, Margaret, an author, actress and TV personality who hung out with the Rolling Stones, and had love affairs with Ted Kennedy and Jack Nicholson.

Born on Christmas Day 1971 and raised at the Canadian leaders’ residence, Mr Trudeau’s middle names are Pierre and James, after his father and his maternal grandfather, James Sinclair, once a Liberal cabinet minister. But rather than politics, Mr Trudeau’s first career was as a teacher, of maths and drama.

His father had a cerebral reputation, said Nelson Wiseman, a politics professor at the University of Toronto. “Pierre Trudeau studied at Harvard, he was an economic policy adviser in the Privy Council Office and a constitutional lawyer,” Professor Wiseman said. “Trudeau the younger doesn’t have that intellectual gravitas.” His name nonetheless made Mr Trudeau a public figure, particularly after a stirring eulogy at his father’s state funeral in September 2000. In 2007, he appeared in the series The Great War as Major Talbot Mercer Papineau, a Canadian killed at Passchendaele. A year later he was an MP.

The Liberals held power for 80 of the 110 years between 1896 and 2006. But their loss that year to the Conservatives led to infighting, and a more disastrous election in 2011, when they shrunk to become the third largest party.

Mr Trudeau was hesitant to run for the leadership. His parents had separated when he was six, their marriage destroyed in part by the demands of politics. “Nobody knows better than I do what the pressures of party leadership can do to a young family,” he said in 2012. (Continued: The Independent, UK)