Netflix & Hulu vs California.

California Demands a Revenue Cut.

Netflix & Hulu vs California.

Netflix and Hulu are in the news.   This week a judge from Los Angeles gave a victory to the streamers against Lancaster, California, who tried to evaluate the franchise rates on them.

California City is one of the many municipalities throughout the country that are currently in the courts against Serpentine. Towns and cities once collected a part of the revenues of cable companies that needed to dig up the land and establish their lines. The question is whether streamers should pay the same type of fees, usually five percent of the gross income derived from providing local video programming.

Although streamers are having legal difficulties in some jurisdictions, they prevail in others, such as Nevada, where they achieved success earlier this month. And now add California to that list.

The judge is allowing Lancaster, California an opportunity to amend the complaint if it so chooses, though giving the breadth of the ruling, it seems more likely that the next big phase will be at the appellate level.