On the Hill today: Broadcast regulator hears from Netflix on future of TV

OTTAWA – Netflix will be streaming itself live today as it speaks out on the future of the country’s television industry.

Netflix Canada executives are set to make a much-anticipated appearance in front of the country’s broadcast regulator as it wraps up two weeks of public hearings.

The online video-streaming company has garnered a lot of attention even before attending the hearings before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

The Ontario and Quebec governments, along with some cultural organizations, have suggested that Netflix and other new online entities be regulated in much the same way as conventional TV broadcasters and forced to contribute to funds used to produce Canadian television programming.

But early on in the hearings the Harper government made clear it would oppose any so-called Netflix tax, if one was adopted by the regulator.

Here are some other events happening in and around Ottawa today:

— Economists will be watching as Statistics Canada releases the national inflation rate for August. They predict that the core consumer price index, which excludes most volatile components such as fuels and some food items, will increase slightly to 1.8 per cent;

— The Supreme Court of Canada will issue decisions in three appeals involving the foreign exchange conversion rates charged by credit card companies;

— And Gov. Gen. David Johnston will attend a ceremony marking the centennial of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and the Royal 22nd Regiment.

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