Streaming platforms challenge order to fund Canada Broadcasting

Streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney and Paramount have launched court challenges to an order requiring them to help fund Canadian broadcasting, the Motion Picture Association said Thursday.

The association said it filed an appeal in federal court and a request for judicial review of the Canadian broadcasting regulator’s “decision to force global entertainment streaming services to pay for Canadian local news.”

Music streaming platforms such as Apple and Amazon also filed similar legal challenges this week.

The companies are seeking to block the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s decision last month that, from September, compels them to contribute financially to the creation and distribution of Canadian television content, as well as its promotion.

The order — which effectively brings streamers under the same rules as traditional Canadian broadcasters — is expected to inject Can$200 million (US$147 million) per year into the country’s broadcast sector.

The Online Streaming Act, passed in 2023, created a legal framework for the CRTC to regulate digital platforms. It was part of a series of recent measures introduced by Ottawa to better regulate web giants.

Wendy Noss, president of the Canadian arm of the Motion Picture Association, said the CRTC decision was “discriminatory… and contradicts the goal of creating a modern, flexible framework that recognizes the nature of the services global streamers provide.”

She also argued that global studios and streaming services have already spent over Can$6.7 billion (US$4.9 billion) annually on productions in Canada.

Canada’s Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge last month maintained that the measure would ultimately benefit streamers.

“This is money that will go back into Canadian creation, whether it’s music, whether it’s a television series or movies, that will most likely go back on their platform,” she said. Barron’s