What Is The Ohio Vs. Netflix Federal Lawsuit About?

A recent debate sparked between Maple Heights and Netflix goes into detail to dispute the difference between a streaming service and a digital service provider, and the result of this lawsuit could mean Ohio cities loosing money.

According to Cleveland.com, Maple Heights and 2,000 other cities across the U.S believe Netflix and Hulu to be video service providers because they are competing with local broadcasters and feature similar content.

Maple Heights attorney Justin Hawal explained to justices of the Ohio Supreme Court why it only makes sense for Netflix and Hulu to be considered digital service providers due to competition between local broadcast stations:

“Your Honor, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the cord-cutting phenomenon, but there are differently subscribers or consumers in the state of Ohio and across the country that are ‘cutting the cord,’ moving away from traditional cable providers, and subscribing to one or more streaming services like Netflix and Hulu."

Gregory Garre, an attorney representing Netflix said that anyone who streams content over the internet would have to pay a fee if Netflix was a digital service provider. Netflix does not require access to cable lines, therefore; it is not a digital service provider.

“It would mean that anyone who streams content over the internet – whether it’s a high school that streams educational programs or athletic events or a church that may stream programs or this court itself, which is streaming this argument live today – would be a video service provider under the act, potentially subject to the franchising fee requirements,” Garre stated.

The Ohio Supreme Court will decide in the coming months whether or not Netflix and Hulu can be considered video service providers.