ISP tax a good idea, former CRTC chair says

Media | 01/06/2017 4:24 pm EST

A former chairman of the CRTC is backing the concept of levying a new tax on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as the heritage minister mulls ways to rejig the country’s cultural institutions. In a memo published Thursday for the C.D. Howe Institute, in which he serves as a senior fellow, Konrad von Finckenstein argued that current legislation used to regulate communications won’t work in the broadband age and that “subsidization and promotion of Canadian content is the only meaningful way for government to support Canadian content.” Von Finkenstein, who led...

Avoid ISP tax, tweak CanCon rules, companies say in Heritage review

Media | 12/19/2016 6:10 pm EST

There isn’t much disagreement between some of the country’s biggest media and telecom service providers over whether foreign entities, such as over-the-top providers like Netflix Inc., should be making a contribution to the country’s cultural sector. Submissions to Canadian Heritage’s broad cultural review from companies such as BCE Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc., and Shaw Communications Inc. generally dismissed the notion that Netflix...