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2h ago

CRTC Orders Large Streamers to Pay 15% of Canadian Revenue to Fund CanCon

The regulator has shifted a bigger share of funding and added visibility and spending rules for domestic and Indigenous programming, creating a likely path to further court fights and U.S. trade pushback.

A new report suggests Canadians' television viewing habits continue to shift toward streaming platforms at the expense of traditional cable and satellite subscriptions, at a time when the federal regulator considers new rules to help level the playing field across the sector. A television remote control shows buttons to access streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime, in a photo illustration made in Toronto, Friday, March 22, 2024. (Giordano Ciampini/The Canadian Press)
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A sign for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), is shown in Gatineau, Que., on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Home theater with a large screen showing Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount, and Sony logos, with blue ambient backlight and speakers nearby.

Overview

  • The CRTC announced on Thursday that online streaming services with at least $25 million in annual Canadian broadcasting revenue must contribute 15 percent of those revenues to support Canadian and Indigenous audio‑visual content.
  • Traditional broadcasters will see their baseline obligation set at 25 percent of revenue and companies with more than $100 million in Canadian revenue must meet a 25 percent spending requirement that includes minimums for news and for partnerships with Canadian producers.
  • The decision creates a discoverability framework that requires platforms to make Canadian and Indigenous content more prominent and to measure prominence and engagement with standardized metrics where possible.
  • The 15 percent order builds on a 2024 five percent baseline that is already the subject of a Federal Court of Appeal challenge and a court stay on payments, so the new rules are likely to face continued litigation and diplomatic complaints from U.S. industry groups.
  • The CRTC says the package will stabilize funding above $2 billion a year and funds a new program for services of exceptional importance, while critics such as the Motion Picture Association warn the measures could breach trade commitments and affect investment and consumer prices.