A new report has suggested that the government force and tax streaming services, like Netflix and Amazon Prime, to play more Canadian content.
A new report on telecommunications has suggested that the government should force streaming services, like Netflix and Amazon Prime, to make and play more Canadian content.
As well as this, the report, “Canada’s communications future: Time to act“, also recommended an ad-free CBC, which would make the CBC even more dependant on Canadian taxpayer money.
The report in question was commissioned by the federal government and revealed on Wednesday. The report was written by a seven-person panel who had the mission of suggesting reforms to the Canadian telecommunications industry.
The panel was also tasked with recommending reforms to Canadian telecommunications, including the CBC, so that it could survive in the modern age of streaming.
When the report was finished it recommended, among other things, to create universal broadband in Canada. It also recommended forcing “media curators” to create Canadian content.
Not all Canadians were happy with these recommendations. Journalist J.J. McCullough, for instance, said, “The government is upset you’re not watching enough of their tax-funded ‘Canadian content,’ so they’re talking about forcing it to be displayed more prominently on Netflix.”
“If that fails, maybe they can just use that contraption from Clockwork Orange,” added McCullough.
The report also suggested streaming services such as Amazon and Netflix be forced by the federal government to pay into the Canada Media Fund, which would likely be a de facto tax on Canadian consumers as the added cost to the streaming services would likely be passed on to the price of the subscriptions.
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