Global streamers fight CRTC’s rule requiring them to fund Canadian content
Global News
Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and others are challenging a CRTC order to fund Canadian content, arguing it’s unfair and exceeds the regulator’s authority under the law.
Some of the world’s biggest streaming companies will argue in court on Monday that they shouldn’t have to make CRTC-ordered financial contributions to Canadian content and news.
The companies are fighting an order from the federal broadcast regulator that says they must pay five per cent of their annual Canadian revenues to funds devoted to producing Canadian content, including local TV news.
The case, which consolidates several appeals by streamers, will be heard by the Federal Court of Appeal in Toronto.
Apple, Amazon and Spotify are fighting the CRTC’s 2024 order. Motion Picture Association-Canada, which represents such companies as Netflix and Paramount, is challenging a section of the CRTC’s order requiring them to contribute to local news.
In December, the court put a pause on the payments — estimated to be at least $1.25 million annually per company. Amazon, Apple and Spotify had argued that if they made the payments and then won the appeal and overturned the CRTC order, they wouldn’t be able to recover the money.
In court documents, the streamers put forward a long list of arguments on why they shouldn’t have to pay, including technical points regarding the CRTC’s powers under the Broadcasting Act.
Spotify argued that the contribution requirement amounts to a tax, which the CRTC doesn’t have the authority to impose. The music streamer also took issue with the CRTC requiring the payments without first deciding how it will define Canadian content.
Amazon argued the federal cabinet specified the CRTC’s requirements have to be “equitable.”
In a year-end interview with Global News, Carney said Canada is in a better place that it was when he first became prime minister, but more work lies ahead to grow the economy.
Canada’s public health agency reports a fifth hospitalization in an E. coli outbreak linked to recalled Pillsbury Pizza Pops that has sickened 23 people nationwide.
Quebec's expanded school cellphone ban is getting top marks from some students and administrators who say the measure has improved students' concentration and social interactions.
Hundreds came together for a holiday feast at Rossbrook House on Christmas Eve which included a visit from Santa and gifts for families.
In his decision, Judge Graeme Mitchell of Court of King's Bench in Regina says the families' allegations are not sound in law and lack merit.
The FDA approved the one-a-day Wegovy pill, the first oral GLP-1 medication for obesity in the U.S., Wegovy manufacturer Novo Nordisk said in a statement Tuesday.
The federal government is suspending the planned export ban on single-use plastics due to tariffs and supply chain issues "creating significant pressure on the domestic economy."
The final preparations for Santa Claus' annual Dec. 24 flight are complete after successfully navigating 'several unusual challenges,' NAV Canada said in a statement.
A Regina mother is speaking publicly after her 11-year-old son died in a carbon monoxide incident at an apartment building friday.
Honveer Singh Randhawa said his team has already achieved a material outcome after the chief electoral officer admitted that some violations had occurred.
As shoppers in Saskatchewan head to shopping centres for last minute purchases, a new report suggests they are more likely to be spending with intention this year.
No statement of defence has been filed and none of the allegations have been tested in court.
A 2023 B.C. Census report found that during a 24-hour period, 1,750 women, children and youth were helped through transition housing programs.