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Cities Sue Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Claim They Owe Cable "Franchise Fees"

posted by Fnord666 on Friday August 21 2020, @09:40AM   
from the declining-revenues dept.

Freeman writes:

Cities sue Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, claim they owe cable “franchise fees”:

Four cities in Indiana are suing Netflix and other video companies, claiming that online video providers and satellite-TV operators should have to pay the same franchise fees that cable companies pay for using local rights of way.

The lawsuit was filed against Netflix, Disney, Hulu, DirecTV, and Dish Network on August 4 in Indiana Commercial Court in Marion County. The cities of Indianapolis, Evansville, Valparaiso, and Fishers want the companies to pay the cable-franchise fees established in Indiana's Video Service Franchises (VSF) Act, which requires payments of 5 percent of gross revenue in each city.

Inspired by? Charter Can Charge Online Video Sites for Network Connections, Court Rules

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Original Submission

• Slice that pie so thin Slice that pie so thin (Score: 5, Insightful) by Booga1 on Friday August 21 2020, @11:48AM (3 children)

  by Booga1 (6333) on Friday August 21 2020, @11:48AM (#1039830)

  So, they're not content to just collect money from the people that operate the service that runs the physical cable. No, they want a piece of the pie from everything that comes down it. ISPs want to double dip, cities want to double dip. Everyone's gotta get paid, and we all know who pays in the end: us.

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• Re:Slice that pie so thin Re:Slice that pie so thin (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2020, @02:17PM (2 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2020, @02:17PM (#1039881)

  This was covered in the 1990s. Should websites such as yahoo have to pay all over the world?
  The answer is no.
  Both parties pay for their internet access. Done.
  No third party has a cut. Imagine applying this to all services on the internet.

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  • Re:Slice that pie so thin Re:Slice that pie so thin (Score: 5, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 21 2020, @04:10PM (1 child)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday August 21 2020, @04:10PM (#1039947) Journal

    Good thing Ajit Pai repealed Net Neutrality, eh?

    Parent

    • Re:Slice that pie so thin (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 21 2020, @10:01PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday August 21 2020, @10:01PM (#1040121)

      Back in the '90s, every local municipality piled taxes and fees on cellular phone traffic, politically the measures were popular because it was seen as a "luxury tax" - some places went so far as to try to tax any cellular phone traffic that passed through their county - shades of the silk road.

      In the '00s, I looked into the idea of buying some land in East Nebraska and building a windpower farm. Similar problems confronted that endeavor, not just in Nebraska. They call it "spinning fees" but, basically, it's a local shakedown to ensure that any energy development investment in the local area spreads some of that money around to the local governments.

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      🌻🌻 [google.com]

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