OTTAWA — Canada’s broadcasting regulator stated Tuesday that streaming platforms akin to Netflix and Disney could be required beginning in September to contribute 5 % of their Canadian revenues to fund native content material.
The On-line Streaming Act, handed in 2023, created a authorized framework to manage digital platforms and oblige them to contribute financially to the creation, manufacturing, and distribution of Canadian content material, akin to TV reveals, in addition to its promotion.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Fee (CRTC) estimated that the measure — which successfully brings streamers underneath the identical guidelines as conventional Canadian broadcasters — will present Can$200 million (US$146 million) per yr in new funding for the nation’s broadcasting system.
“The funding,” the CRTC stated in a press release, “will likely be directed to areas of fast want within the Canadian broadcasting system, akin to native information on radio and tv, French-language content material (and) Indigenous content material.”
On-line streaming providers will likely be permitted some flexibility to direct components of their contributions to help Canadian tv content material immediately, it added.
Regulating internet giants
The Canadian regulation is a part of a sequence of latest measures launched by the federal government to higher regulate internet giants.
For its half, the Digital Media Affiliation (DiMA), representing Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify, pushed again in opposition to the measure.
“We’re deeply involved with immediately’s resolution to impose a discriminatory tax on music streaming providers which can be already making important contributions to Canadian artists and tradition,” DiMA president Graham Davies stated in a press release.
The Movement Image Affiliation-Canada in the meantime stated that international studios and streaming providers already spend money on content material made by Canadian manufacturing firms.
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“We’re dissatisfied in immediately’s resolution that reinforces a decades-old regulatory strategy designed for cable firms,” president Wendy Noss stated in a press release.
Canada’s Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge maintained that the measure would finally profit streamers.
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“That is cash that can return into Canadian creation, whether or not it’s music, whether or not it’s a tv sequence or motion pictures, that can almost definitely return on their platform,” she stated.
