Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums banner

why is netflix not allowed in canada?

3K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  hugh 
#1 ·
I know that in US they can watch movie streaming in netflix for 8.99/month, and we cannot do this in canada. is all this is due rogers control this market, is there anything we can do to open this channel, internet is here to stay any way, but the bylaw is restrict us to do more in the way we have to pay a lot more. i don't mind to pay the monthly fee in internet to get good program, is there any legal way to get something basic like what i saw in rogers basic cable to see in internet.
thanks.
 
#2 ·
Netflix is allowed in Canada. They just choose to not operate in this country.

You need to contact them as to why they don't do business in Canada.
 
#4 ·
No. It's not about Canadian content rules, it's about rights purchasing. Netflix purchases US distribution rights. Those rights are limited to the United States. Netflix chooses not to purchase Canadian (or any other) distribution rights. Presumably, their analysis does not suggest that the business model would be profitable enough in Canada to justify the purchase of rights to distribute content in Canada.
 
#6 ·
What makes you think it would be "extremely profitable"?

They're the ones that know their market penetration rate in the US. Therefore, the most they could reasonable project for penetration rate in Canada is 10% of their US market and after purchasing Canadian rights, and adding startup, admin, and maintenance costs maybe the return on investment just isn't there. You see it with iTunes ... there's plenty of content for which Apple purchases US rights that they don't bother with obtaining the Canadian rights.
 
#8 ·
I see two issues in this arena;

1. Given the pathetic state of domestic content, CDN broadcasters pay some of the highest licensing rates in the world for US content to fill their prime-time schedules. Couple this lucrative opportunity to classic Hollywood greed, and I think we can extrapolate where the licensing costs will be...

2. In addition to rolling out half-baked competitive services, the domestic ISPs imposition of paltry bandwidth caps (compared to ~250GB/mo on Comcast USA) will result in substantial overage charges ($50/mo on Robbers) on top of your monthly subscription.


...thus, that US$8.99/mo subscription could magnify to CAD$25+/mo here, plus adding another $50 for Robbers customers and it doesn't look so attractive.
 
#10 ·
apn, you're just making stuff up. We don't know what such a service might look like or what it might cost.
 
#11 ·
We don't know for sure, BUT, my statement (1) is correct (go see what the BBC/ITV/Ch4 pay for a hit US show vs. CTV/Global) and Robbers-On-Demand has already set a precedent with regards to (2).

Tell me exactly how Robbers will allow a competitive streaming service to sidestep bandwidth caps while not allowing customers of their own service to do so (BTW, ROD is delivered from private servers/network NOT the public internet, hence there should be no external bandwidth costs).

The "low bandwidth caps and high overage charge" model was specifically designed to quell cable defections to torrent/streaming options, and ROD is nothing more than Robbers trying to corner the market on content AND distribution.

Still don't see this as an impediment to Netflix-like streaming service?
 
#12 ·
Sorry but your term Robbers on demand suggests zero objectivity on this so its pretty much impossible to argue.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top