Carney Orders CRTC to Revisit Changes to Broadcasting Act

Courtesy: Canva

The Government of Canada have ordered the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to review recent steps to modernize the Broadcasting Act. On May 21^st, the CRTC announced that foreign digital broadcasters with over $25 million in annual Canadian revenue will be forced to contribute 15% of that revenue to the creation of Canadian and indigenous content – an increase from the previous 5%. This new level of contribution would have created roughly $2 billion in funding. However, the Heritage Department said these new requirements would "impose costs" on streamers "which could ultimately fall on Canadian consumers through higher prices."

Unifor has expressed serious concern with the order to review this new regulation. President Lana Payne said, “This latest move by the federal government represents a devastating blow to our cultural sovereignty and to our strong, diverse Canadian media ecosystem, including local news.” Not only would the new guidelines have increased the contributions of foreign streamers, but Canadian broadcasters would have their contributions reduced to 25%, down from the current range of 30% to 45%. These changes would help balance the playing field between Canadian producers and American streamers. “U.S. big tech makes billions in the Canadian market, and they should be required to reinvest some of that money locally, allowing us to tell our stories and grow our talent here in Canada,” Payne added.

In June 2024, the Broadcasting Act was amended via the Online Streaming Act. The changes required online streamers not affiliated with a Canadian broadcaster to contribute 5% of their Canadian revenue to native content. Since that amendment, the CRTC held public consultations on the creation of Canadian content and the sustainability of Canada's broadcasting system. They received over 600 submissions. They also held two public hearings with nearly 150 independent groups who shared perspectives on these topics. Those submissions and hearings led to the new steps in May.

Those steps would have tripled the contributions from international streamers and CRTC’s CEO Vicky Eatrides was pleased with that outcome saying, “[these] decisions are about building a stronger broadcasting system. We are taking action to ensure stable funding for Canadian and Indigenous content, and to help make it more discoverable.”

The financial model to support Canadian and Indigenous news is broken, as US tech giants have been allowed to take advantage of Canadian markets without contributing to the creation of Canadian content in any manner. However, Prime Minister Mark Carney claims, "this is not the time to raise the cost for Canadians." The federal government stated they will be investing $600 million in support of Canada’s audiovisual sectors. That comes up well short of the $2 billion in funding that the CRTC’s changes were expected to create.

Unifor’s Chair of Media Council, Julie Kotsis, slammed this decision from the Carney government: “This follows on the heels of the Liberals’ concession to Trump and U.S. Big Tech when they backed away from the Digital Services Tax in June 2025.” Minister of Identity and Culture Marc Miller insists that big tech will still be obligated to contribute to Canadian content: “This isn't an absolute removal of any responsibility to contribute to the sector, far from that.”

MAP condemns this decision from the federal government and support the CRTC’s actions to protect and enhance Canadian content.