Global streaming services such as Netflix and Disney Plus are challenging a regulatory directive under the Online Streaming Act to contribute money to CanadaB次元官网网址檚 broadcast sector, including for local news.
Motion Picture Association-Canada, which also represents platforms HAYU, SonyB次元官网网址檚 Crunchyroll, Paramount Plus and Pluto TV, has filed two legal challenges in Federal Court in response to the new rule.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said in June that foreign streamers must contribute five per cent of their annual Canadian revenues into a fund devoted to producing Canadian content, including local TV and radio news, as well as Indigenous and French-language content.
The CRTC said streaming companies that are not affiliated with a Canadian broadcaster B次元官网网址� and that make at least $25 million in Canadian revenue B次元官网网址� would be required to pay into the fund, which is expected to inject about $200 million into the system every year.
MPA-Canada is seeking a leave to appeal and a judicial review of the CRTCB次元官网网址檚 decision, arguing the regulator has no statutory authority to compel foreign companies to support Canadian news production and that it made B次元官网网址渆rrors of law and jurisdiction.B次元官网网址�
The U.S.-based Digital Media Association also says three of its members B次元官网网址� Amazon, Apple and Spotify B次元官网网址� have filed legal challenges to the mandatory financial contributions, calling the CRTC decision B次元官网网址渂ackward-lookingB次元官网网址� and unsustainable.
The CRTC said in a statement Friday that it will B次元官网网址渃ontinue to balance consulting widely with moving quickly to build the new regulatory framework,B次元官网网址� but declined to comment on the streamersB次元官网网址� legal challenges as the case is before the court.
The CRTCB次元官网网址檚 move is meant to level the regulatory playing field between tech giants and cable companies, but a spokesperson for MPA-Canada said requiring global entertainment streaming services to pay for local news B次元官网网址渋s a discriminatory measure that goes far beyond what Parliament intended.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淥ur membersB次元官网网址� streaming services do not produce local news nor are they granted the significant legal privileges and protections enjoyed by Canadian broadcasters in exchange for the responsibility to provide local news,B次元官网网址� the groupB次元官网网址檚 president, Wendy Noss, said in a statement.
In its court filings, MPA-Canada also argues that the CRTC rule could indirectly allow the disclosure of foreign streamersB次元官网网址� confidential revenue information to the Canadian broadcasters they compete with.
The Digital Media Association has also expressed concern about its members having to share B次元官网网址渟ensitive commercial informationB次元官网网址� with third parties, including Canadian broadcasters.
B次元官网网址淭he approach taken is backward-looking and bad public policy from the current government of Canada, and fails to acknowledge streamingB次元官网网址檚 existing contributions to music production,B次元官网网址� the association wrote in a statement that urges the CRTC to rethink its implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
READ ALSO:
