Commentary
There’s a good chance that, in the weeks ahead, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will be dictating Canada’s broadcasting policy and American companies will be funding their northern neighbour’s film and TV industry on their own terms.
That possibility was created last week when Canada’s regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), was instructed by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet to take second look at its most recent decision implementing the 2023 Online Streaming Act. In that, the CRTC ordered streaming companies—most of which are American—to dedicate 15 percent of their Canadian revenues to the creation and promotion of certified Canadian content and news. The decision also reduced the Canadian content contribution expectations for domestic broadcasters from as much as 40 percent to a mere 25 percent of their revenues. In doing so, the CRTC was following the expectations laid out in the Online Streaming Act which are, essentially, to derive revenue from foreign streamers to support the production of Canadian film and television programming….