Disney Platform Distribution v. City of Santa Barbara

Filed 12/17/

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

DISNEY PLATFORM 2d Civil No. B342211 DISTRIBUTION, INC., et al., (Super. Ct. No. 24CV02313) (Santa Barbara County) Plaintiffs and Appellants,

v.

CITY OF SANTA BARBARA,

Defendant and Respondent.

This appeal involves the interpretation and validity of Ordinance 5471 (the Ordinance), which was adopted by the City of Santa Barbara (City) in 2008. The Ordinance is entitled, “Telecommunications and Video Users’ Tax Reduction and Modernization Ordinance.” Appellants Disney Platform Distribution, Inc., BAMTech, LLC, and Hulu, LLC, are subsidiaries of the Walt Disney Company. They provide video streaming services to their customers. Appellants allege that they “offer live and on-demand video content that millions of subscribers can stream over the Internet.”1 In 2022 City’s Tax Administrator sent appellants a “notice of deficiency determination for video users’ taxes.” The notice informed appellants that they had failed to collect and pay the video users’ tax due under the Ordinance for the period from January 1, 2018…