Top Canadian film and TV organizations urge Ottawa to remedy ‘uncertainty’ over Online Streaming Act

Dozens of leading Canadian film and television organizations – including the Canadian Media Producers Association, the Directors Guild of Canada and Hot Docs – issued an open letter Thursday to the federal government underlining the “significant uncertainty” that Ottawa has introduced into the multibillion-dollar industry over the state of the Online Streaming Act.

In June, the Department of Canadian Heritage ordered the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to review its May policy regarding the Online Streaming Act (or Bill C-11), which would have tripled the contributions of such foreign-owned streaming giants as Netflix and Amazon toward the production and promotion of homegrown content, including local news, to 15 per cent from 5 per cent of their Canadian revenues.

The legislation – designed to bridge the gap between the declining ability of traditional Canadian broadcasters to contribute to this country’s cultural system and the ascendancy of global streamers – is similar to laws already in place in other markets around the world. France, for instance, compels foreign streamers to invest 20 to 25 per cent of local revenue into French and European film and TV production, while Italy requires a 16-per-cent commitment and Australia 7.5 per cent.

At the time of its policy U-turn in June, Canadian Heritage said that the costs imposed by C-11 “could ultimately fall on Canadian consumers through higher prices,” sentiments echoed by Prime Minister Mark Carney in remarks to reporters last month. (Amazon, Apple and Spotify have taken action in Canadian federal court in a bid to stop the law.)

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In lieu of pursuing base-contribution requirements from streamers, Heritage Minister Marc Miller has said that Ottawa will inject $600-million annually to the screen sector, including local news and niche broadcasters. Details of when that money will begin to flow and to which organizations have not yet been revealed.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail in June, Mr. Miller said that the government will also continue to pursue an undefined rate of domestic revenues from streamers toward Canadian programming, though no figure has since been announced.

In the open letter issued Thursday to Mr. Carney and Mr. Miller, more than 40 cultural organizations from across the country, ranging from the Alberta Media Production Industries Association to Quebec’s Société des auteur.e.trice.s de radio, télévision et cinéma, noted that the contributions outlined by the CRTC are “not a tax or a levy,” but rather investments toward the production of Canadian stories that can travel the world through the reach of such platforms as Disney+ and Paramount+.

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“In order for this to be a healthy, sustainable market, we need to have a balanced ecosystem. One of the ways of achieving that is having certain baseline Canadian rules that everyone abides by,” Reynolds Mastin, president and chief executive of the Canadian Media Producers Association, said in an interview.

“We’re talking about commissioning Canadian shows that would go on these platforms on [streamers’] own services, which they would have every incentive to monetize, promote and make sure they’re as successful as any other shows they provide. This has the potential to be win-win.”

The open letter went on to note that the government’s annual $600-million pledge is not a commensurate replacement for “durable, legally enforceable contribution obligations,” and that such funding is subject to “budget pressures, political change, and administrative discretion.”

Further, the signatories warned that if the Canadian government does not follow through on C-11’s obligation to funnel a meaningful share of domestic revenue from streamers toward original Canadian programming, “we risk weakening Canada’s position as a cultural exporter and diminishing both the domestic and global reach of Canadian stories.”

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“As these platforms become more dominant in our market, without some baseline rules, they may one day be the sole arbiters of whether Canadians have access to Canadian stories,” the CMPA’s Mastin said. “If we let that happen, we’ll have effectively ceded a giant chunk of Canadian culture to foreign decision-makers and we’ll have given away our national sovereignty in the process.”

The discussion is happening in the midst of intense trade negotiations between the Ottawa and Washington, with U.S. President Donald Trump pledging to impose 50-per-cent tariffs on $20-billion worth of Canadian goods starting Aug. 19. Bill C-11, which became law in 2023, has been frequently referenced as a top trade irritant by the U.S. government.

“We recognize that the government is operating in incredibly uncertain and unstable times. So it’s incumbent upon us as an industry to recognize that and be good partners,” said Mastin.

“Part of that involves sending letters like this. We want to help foster a dialogue within the industry, with the government and with the streamers so that we can collectively map out what a promising future could look like for everyone.”