The icebreaker at the CMPA’s Prime Time conference this year for industry rivals breaking bread in Ottawa: Netflix.

“They cater to their customers like no other video service,” digital media consultant Robert Tercek said Thursday of the U.S. video streaming giant during a morning keynote address.

“Most of the major media companies are looking at the rear view mirror, even as they have their foot firmly on the gas pedal” competing with new technologies like Netflix, he added, with an eye to North American cable operators fearing customers cutting the cord as they move online for video consumption.

On the surface, Canadian industry players are gathering in Ottawa this week in an optimistic mood after the national ad market recovered and conventional broadcasters with new deep-pocketed owners bulked up on specialty channels.

But behind the scenes, major players are raising the alarm over Netflix Canada and its steady growth threatening to undermine the Canadian industry’s traditional revenue model.

The CMPA has invited representatives of major broadcasters, content carriers, filmmakers, unions and guilds to a closed door meeting in Ottawa Friday to hammer out an industry consensus on how to fend off competition from Netflix Canada.

CMPA topper Norm Bolen told Playback Daily that the goal is convincing the CRTC to deem Netflix Canada an online broadcaster that must help fund Canadian-content production.

“They even use the same pipes,” as rival Canadian content carriers, Bolen said.

The industry also aims to make Netflix Canada a precedent with the CRTC as other so-called over-the-top U.S. digital platforms like Google TV, Apple TV and Hulu ready themselves to cross the U.S.-Canadian border with Canadianized services.

To secure first-time compensation for the Canadian industry from Netflix, the industry needs to convince the CRTC that the U.S. video streaming giant can be regulated as an Internet player.

Netflix will also be top-of-mind when the CRTC holds a scheduling industry round-table on online broadcasting in Ottawa on March 23 and 24.

The Prime Time conference will continue through Friday in Ottawa.