Statement from Friends of Canadian Media on the elimination of the online streaming contribution framework for U.S. streamers.
Friends of Canadian Media is deeply disappointed by reports that the federal government intends to eliminate the CRTC’s base-contribution requirements for foreign streaming services and replace those private-sector contributions with public funding. The government has indicated that streamers may remain subject to other reinvestment obligations, but the scope and value of those obligations remain unclear.
If confirmed, this would represent an unprecedented interference with the work of Canada’s independent communications regulator. Parliament gave the CRTC responsibility for implementing the Online Streaming Act. The Commission developed its contribution framework after years of parliamentary debate, extensive public consultation, evidence from stakeholders and sustained participation by Canada’s cultural and media sectors. The government should not now use a policy direction to predetermine a specific regulatory outcome simply because powerful foreign companies and the United States government object to it.
This decision would also undercut years of work by Canadian creators, producers, broadcasters, journalists, unions, public-interest organizations and ordinary Canadians who participated in the legislative and regulatory processes in good faith. It sends a troubling message that decisions reached through an open Canadian process can be overturned when foreign corporate and political pressure becomes sufficiently intense.
Foreign streaming companies earn substantial revenues from Canadian audiences and benefit from access to our market. They should contribute meaningfully and predictably to the Canadian cultural and media system from which they profit. Transferring that responsibility to Canadian taxpayers is neither fair nor sustainable.
The government must immediately clarify what obligations will remain, how much streamers will be required to contribute and how it intends to respect the CRTC’s institutional independence. Canada’s cultural policy must be made in Canada, through transparent Canadian institutions, and in the public interest – not negotiated away behind closed doors.
Raj Shoan
Executive Director
Friends of Canadian Media