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VIDEO: Netflix steps into showdown against Canadian TV commission

Netflix is being asked to comply with regulations that would charge Netflix and disperse funds to support Canadian content production
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The U.S.-based streaming provider Netflix has transitioned from a low-cost viewing platform to a major player in American and Canadian television


Netflix has gone from a low-cost consumer alternative to a behemoth in its own right: a 50-million-subscriber strong (Inter)network that creates its own Emmy-nominated content and has ripped the plastic bottom off traditional media's piggy bank.

But now it's being asked to play ball – even if it's playing a different game.

Company executive Corie Wright testified in Gatineau, Quebec on Friday, saying that proposed regulations, which would be imposed on the company's content, were unnecessary and would only hurt the Canadian consumer.

"It is not in the interest of consumers to have new media subsidize old media or to have new entrants subsidize incumbents," said Wright. "Netflix believes that regulatory intervention online is unnecessary and could have consequences that are inconsistent with the interests of consumers."

The CRTC and other groups have argued that Netflix should pay to play in the Canadian market, with funds supporting other content production in the country's TV market.

Netflix has expressed its opposition to that, which continued in Toronto on Thursday "in an occasionally tense appearance," writes CP's Terry Pedwell.

From the Surrey Leader:

(Wright) said viewers should have the ability "to vote with their dollars and eyeballs to shape the media marketplace."

Video/Files: The Canadian Press