Ottawa says CRTC’s new cash requirements from streamers risk price hikes for Canadians

The federal government will direct its broadcast and telecommunications regulator to revisit a recent decision to triple the funds that streaming services like Netflix must contribute to Canadian content.

The Heritage Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s new requirements would “impose costs” on streamers “which could ultimately fall on Canadian consumers through higher prices.”

“This is not the time to raise the cost for Canadians,” Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters after meeting with his cabinet.

The government also said it is investing $600 million to “provide stability and immediate support to Canada’s audio and audiovisual sectors and to keep our culture accessible and affordable for all Canadians.”

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Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa’s call for CRTC to review its decision to triple streamers’ financial contributions to Canadian content is a move to support affordability for Canadians. ‘This is not the time to raise the cost for Canadians,’ Carney said.

The Online Streaming Act, which passed in 2023 under the former Trudeau government, enabled the CRTC to order all streaming companies with at least $25 million in annual Canadian revenue to direct a portion of that toward supporting the creation of Canadian content including movies, television and local news.

The CRTC initially set that base contribution at five per cent of a company’s Canadian revenue, but then raised it to 15 per cent last month.

Ottawa will now issue a new policy direction to the CRTC to adjust how it is implementing the Online Streaming Act.

The law has been listed by the Trump administration as a trade irritant as the two countries review their free trade agreement.

The Motion Picture Association, the U.S. group representing streamers, had also called on cabinet to reconsider its approach.

The U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra welcomed the decision to review the contribution increase.

“American firms want to invest in Canada’s creative sector, and a fair, nonburdensome framework makes that possible,” Hoekstra posted online.

Under the Broadcasting Act, cabinet doesn’t have the authority to directly overturn the regulator’s decisions, but must instead direct the CRTC on how to broadly implement the act.

In an email to CBC News, the CRTC said it is aware the government will direct the agency to adjust the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.

“The CRTC will review any new policy directions as they are released,” the agency said.

WATCH | Culture minister on CRTC changes:

Culture minister says Ottawa will direct CRTC to review decision on streamers’ CanCon contributions

Minister of Identity and Culture Marc Miller said Ottawa will direct the CRTC to review its decision to triple streamers’ financial contributions to Canadian content. He said ‘the industry is suffering’ while millions of government funds to Canada’s audio and audiovisual sectors are ‘frozen in litigation.’

Minister of Identity and Culture Marc Miller said he isn’t surprised U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer listed the Online Streaming Act as an irritant, but said the industry is suffering financially and needs help.

Miller said the government is currently reviewing what its new directive to the CRTC will be and wouldn’t provide details. But he said platforms will still be expected to contribute to Canadian content. 

“This isn’t an absolute removal of any responsibility to contribute to the sector, far from that,” he said.

The timing of the review while U.S trade negotiations were underway was “coincidental,” Miller told CBC’s Power & Politics.