There was a lot of rumbling today on how the CRTC here in Canada is mandating that streaming platforms like a Netflix must pay a 15% tax on its revenue in an effort to support Canadian content and this isn’t sitting well of course. To my knowledge, this is already being challenged legally. It brings up a good topic too where if you have a business in an industry that is clearly struggling should the big companies be forced to help out? Or is it as simple as if you can’t make a compelling product then its time to hang it up?
In many ways it doesn’t make sense as it’s almost like trying to force something that simply isn’t working. Imagine dumping thousands of dollars a day in funding a restaurant that is not naturally getting customers as we just want it to stay open. That wouldn’t make sense right? I think this ultimately doesn’t solve any core problems too. Example, if the content and Canadian talent aren’t even being supported then that needs to be the focus.
Just throwing money at a problem doesn’t make it go away and this is no different I think if the intent is to generate and promote Canadian content.