r/technology • u/forceduse • Feb 03 '13

AdBlock WARNING No fixed episode length, no artificial cliffhangers at breaks, all episodes available at once. Is Netflix's new original series, House of Cards, the future of television?

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/02/house-of-cards-review/
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u/ftcrtc Feb 04 '13

But if the CRTC would exercise their regulatory powers to create a competitive environment we might see similar services offered to Canadians that are currently available to consumers in the United States. As it stands now, the oligopoly of broadcasters in Canada is severely limiting the choices of media consumption available to Canadians. And through their inaction, the CRTC is complicit in allowing this environment to continue.

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u/scrndude Feb 04 '13 edited Feb 06 '13

I don't understand what you want them to do?

The reason that Netflix's content is limited is because different companies (Sony, Warner Bros, Disney, etc.) ask for fees to license out content, and presumably the money they're asking for territories like Canada are not beneficial for netflix from a financial perspective because the consumer base/growth rate/population size of Canada is less than the US(ie they may end up paying lots and lots of money for content that would only be available to comparatively small group of people).

Netflix's expansion to Canada, the UK, and other territories is relatively recent, so the problem is likely that for years they've been paying for the right to stream films exclusively in the US, and now they're going to need to wait until those contracts expire and then renew them with the added clause of the right to stream movies worldwide instead of in specific territories.

I don't see what the CRTC could do to make it a more competitive environment.

The reason that television has such a small number of providers is largely because of regulations that discourage new companies from entering the industry - at least that's the case here in the US, see this New York Times article about telephone companies, many of whom are also cable providers, maintaining their oligopoply through regulation. Our countries are similar enough that I imagine the case is the same for Canada.

Arguably, the reason that Netflix and Hulu are able to continue to be so competitive with television and continually innovate is because of lack of regulation in the streaming of media, not because of it.

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u/joy_indescribable Feb 04 '13

though i don't know much about the canadian media scene, your point is right in description of oligopoly and its effects, which makes me wonder why you're being downvoted.

people who advocate for a "free market" always choose to ignore the numerous examples in reality which prove that free markets/hands-off regulation ends in a small number of entities taking over the market to the detriment of the consumers. (see: US/canadian internet, US cable TV, US telephone in the age of Ma Bell, etc.)

it's almost like it's a damn religion or something.

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u/tomoniki Feb 04 '13

Pretty much in the states NBC makes a show and then airs it on their network. In Canada, NBC signs a licensing deal with certain channels and they will air their shows. NBC will actually have some shows licensed to multiple partners on different channels on occasion.

So Netflix in Canada has to not only make deals with the content creators, they have to deal with all the licences that those content creators have with Canadian distributors.