On Screen Manitoba

This article was originally published on the Hollywood Reporter website on April 26 2012.

TV networks and cablers called on the CRTC to act on Netflix Canada, even as the regulator insists they are not disadvantaged by the U.S. video streaming giant's presence here.

TORONTO – Canadian broadcasters on Wednesday urged the country’s TV watchdog to do more to protect them from the Hollywood juggernaut.

“We’ve lived in the shadow of the giant and will continue to do so for our entire existence. I think we need a CRTC that is functional, that is offering the proper protections, and that is offering the certainty that we need in this country to survive if we’re going to stay in the broadcasting space,” Rick Brace, president of specialty channels and TV production for Bell Media, told a Banff World Media Festival preview panel in Toronto.

Brace added Netflix Canada especially was adding to cost pressures for domestic broadcasters by paying “exorbitant rates” for content, and rival U.S. digital giants like Google and Facebook will eventually do the same.
The solution, he ventured, might be Canadian broadcasters banding together to launch a Hulu clone.
“Our costs will skyrocket. So do you partner with the folks at the podium and try it do it like Hulu?” Brace questioned.

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