Using the first numbers I found Canada is ~7% of Netflix’ total subscriber count, and less than 1/3 the number of subscribers as the US. They could shut off service to Canada for a month until people start burning down service Canada locations and the tax gets dropped.
until people start burning down service Canada locations
Maybe a decade ago when Netflix was actually highly-regarded and held a near-monopoly on streaming video.
Today with the massive balkanisation of streaming video, and with Netflix developing a reputation for cancelling good shows and producing poor-quality adaptations? I think most people would post a couple of angry Facebook comments and then move on.
The lack of availability of legal channels to obtain media does not generally stop the availability of said media to the average consumer, especially in a country with high tech permeance.
Streaming is legal in Canada, regardless of the legality if the hosts. Moreover, we have precedent in Canada that tops off your fines for illegal downloading at about $500 for all previous non-commercial infringements of any kind, which means any suits brought against Canadians are at a loss before you even have a meeting with their lawyers.
Yeah Netflix just kicked me off their service last month by completely discontinuing the service level I was willing to pay for, and then had the audacity to send me 4 follow up emails asking if I’d “changed my mind”. I would still be subscribed to Netflix if it wasn’t for (checks notes) Netflix.
The days of Netflix valuing their customers are over. Welcome to enshittification.
The more sane way to interpret this is that it’s a small enough portion of their subscriber count that they really don’t need to be bitching about 5%.
People would turn around and subscribe to Crave, which is Canadian and therefore not affected by the law.
People who won’t pirate no matter what happens will just resort to subscribing to whatever service is available to them and watch whatever is on there, I’m 100% sure the government would barely get any complaints. Heck, it wasn’t that long ago that it wasn’t even a choice, your watched what was playing or what you had taken the time to bother and record.
A pirated movie can be played on any device, it can be backed up to protect against loss, it lets you choose the quality and file size, it generally comes with more options for audio and subtitle language, and you only pay for it once in the form of technical services (bandwidth through your ISP, access to a VPN, access to other private services).
Conversely Netflix offers you access to a movie on a limited number of devices, they can remove your access to that movie at any time, regardless of the settings you have chosen they can reduce the quality of a movie at any time, there is usually only one option for audio/subtitles, and you pay every month regardless of your usage of the service.
If given the two option NO international corporation would ever choose Netflix, why should consumers?