Call out Netflix cheats: Bell Media
The new boss at BCE Inc.’ s Bell Media division thinks some public shaming can go a long way to combat piracy.
Mary Ann Turcke, who replaced Kevin Crull less than two months ago, has seen how far people will go to find the content they want to watch both in her role as president and as a parent. To her dismay, Turcke’s younger daughter told her she had been using a Virtual Private Network ( VPN) to disguise her location and access Netflix Inc.’ s richer U. S. video library, which is otherwise off- limits to Canadian subscribers.
“Mom, did you know that you can hack into U. S. Netflix and get sooo many more shows?” she recalled her 15- year- old daughter saying. A scolding lecture ensued, putting an end to the VPNing at the Turcke house. She says more conversations about what’s right and wrong should be had at dinner tables across Canada.
“It has to become socially unacceptable to admit to another human being that you are VPNing into U. S. Netflix,” Turcke said in a keynote Wednesday at the Canadian Telecom Summit. “Like throwing garbage out of your car window, you just don’t do it. We have to get engaged and tell people they’re stealing.”
The industry can’t just rely on government and the broadcasting watchdog to police and solve this growing problem, she says. It’s up to ordinary people to tell their guilty friend, colleague or child that stealing is wrong. But Turcke should know that relying on people to share and spread her belief is a Hail Mary at best.
In addition to tightening the security and integrity of online marketplaces, wowing people by offering them top- notch content that’s accessible at any time and on every screen can help, too. After all, the livelihoods of 125,000 people in this country’s production industry are at stake — and “nobody here works for free.”
The financial challenges plaguing the media business are no secret, and Bell hasn’t been immune. Costs to serve programming are escalating, while the fight for viewer attention is as fierce as it’s ever been. Then there’s Bell’s long- festering feud with the CRTC, which saw a combative Crull publicly go toe- to- toe with the regulator on several occasions. It’s still unclear whether Turcke will adopt a similar approach.