Netflix would rather spend than tax
Hollywood accounting calculates
A promise by Netflix to make a new home in Canada came soon after a report in Ottawa estimated the streamer would be good for $1.3 billion in five years if subscribers were taxed. Legislation still looms for Google, even though its licensing program is now being activated with a product. As for Facebook, it’s now using Canada to test less politics.
More talk about Bell Media
Having previously left the company to make his own show, Brandon Gonez was free to spout off about Bell Media cuts, which included his former fellow weathercaster Anwar Knight. Also, the demise of three TSN Radio outlets was followed by a CRTC ruling about the once fraught one in Montreal, as Bell was denied a request to be less local.
A house no reporter can confirm belongs to Kyle Lowry. But there’s enough informed speculation that the pile selling for $5.3 million in north Toronto (near the Schitt’s Creek mansion) belongs to the Raptors point guard. Meanwhile, the California sheriff deputy’s lawsuit against team president Masai Ujiri over their clash was dropped.
The last laugh for an old joke
Quebec media is standing by for Monday’s supreme court hearing, which will be the final frontier of appeal for comedian Mike Ward. His journey started with a 2012 human rights tribunal complaint over a joke about disabled child singer Jérémy Gabriel. Marie-Danielle Smith’s feature about the protracted legal battle explains what happened since:
Toronto police charged a woman with defaming dozens online. Nadire Atas was central to a recent New York Times story about her role in a case that led Ontario to recognize a new tort for online harassment. Kashmir Hill, the reporter who investigated the apparent antics of Atas, eventually found herself getting targeted with similar posts.
Finally, learning the facts of life
Robin Thicke was increasingly claimed as Canadian, due to a passport his late father facilitated, upon the peak of “Blurred Lines.” The pride unravelled as he wallowed in weird personal drama and got sued over the song. But in this time of re-examining pop star tabloid narratives, the younger Thicke is going all in with his own redemption angle:
