Article content continued

If Netflix was under the Broadcasting Act it would be required to make certain financial commitments to Canadian content, which some producers feel it should.

“They’re coasting off the system that existed before and the one thing that’s certain is that you can’t very (well) support a system where half of the system is required to contribute and half the system is not,” said Denis McGrath, a Toronto TV writer and producer who also filed a submission during the consultation process.

“They’ll do several of their original shows but at the same time, most of what’s driving that content library and why people are subscribing is stuff that was made under the old system. And a lot of the networks in the States are struggling with, ‘This is our competition now and they are sort of in a sense eating our lunch and making it harder for us to do what they do.”‘

Still, some other producers back Netflix, noting its investments in Canada have helped boost the quality and reach of content here.

“Our partnership with Netflix on both ‘Alias Grace’ and ‘Anne’ has allowed two remarkable Canadian adaptations to be realized with higher budgets than would otherwise have been possible,” Sally Catto, general manager of programming for CBC Television, said in a statement.

“Anne” is an upcoming retelling of “Anne of Green Gables” and will screen simultaneously on CBC-TV in Canada and on Netflix internationally.