Canadian body representing global streamers calls for judicial review of govt's demand for a 5% levy
The Motion Picture Association-Canada's spokesperson said "the decision to require global entertainment streaming services to pay for local news is a discriminatory measure that goes far beyond what Parliament intended..."
ADVERTISEMENT
The Motion Picture Association-Canada (MPA-Canada) has filed applications for a judicial review of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) recent decision to get global entertainment streaming services to pay for Canadian local news.
In June 2024 the commission issued an order that would require streaming services like Netflix and Amazon's Prime, that make $25 million (Canadian dollars) or more in annual contributions revenues and that are not affiliated with a Canadian broadcaster to contribute 5% of those revenues to certain funds. The Commission expects this condition to take effect in the 2024-2025 broadcast year, which begins on 1 September 2024, and that this will provide an estimated $200 million per year in new funding.
The contributions will be directed to areas of immediate need, such as local news on radio and television, French-language content, Indigenous content and content created by and for equity-deserving groups, official language minority communities (OLMC) and Canadians of diverse backgrounds.
The streamers MPA represents include both subscriber and free-to-consumer services. These include Disney+, Netflix, HAYU, Sony Pictures’ Crunchyroll, SonyLIV, Paramount+, and PlutoTV.
Global studios and streaming services have spent over $6.7 billion annually producing quality entertainment in Canada for local and international audiences and invested more in the content made by Canadian production companies last year than the CBC, or the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm combined, the MPA stated in a statement.
“The CRTC’s decision to require global entertainment streaming services to pay for local news is a discriminatory measure that goes far beyond what Parliament intended, exceeds the CRTC’s authority, and contradicts the goal of creating a modern, flexible framework that recognizes the nature of the services global streamers provide,” said Wendy Noss, President of the Motion Picture Association – Canada.
She added, “Our members’ 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.”
The Motion Picture Association – Canada (MPA-Canada) is the voice and advocate of the major international producers and distributors of movies, television and streaming programming in Canada and is an affiliate of the Motion Picture Association, Inc. (MPA).
