By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As the CRTC continues its consultations and public hearings on implementing the Online Streaming Act, which seeks in part to encourage investment in Canadian content from global streamers, France is creating domestic content through partnerships with major digital platforms.
Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ are investing between 20 per cent and 25 per cent of their French revenues in creating French content, Amanda Borghino, deputy general delegate of the Union Syndicale de la Production Audiovisuelle – which represents nearly 200 audiovisual production companies in France – told a panel on global regulatory approaches for streamers at the Canadian Media Producers Association’s (CMPA’s) 30th annual Prime Time conference in Ottawa on Thursday.
The investment requirement was part of an order by the French government in 2021 to implement the European Commission’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), which came into force in 2010 and was revised in 2018.
Last November, France’s National Cinema Centre and audiovisual authority ARCOM released a report indicating that global streamers had invested more than 975 million euros (about $1.5 billion) in French film and TV shows.
Alain Strati, senior vice-president of industry and policy and general counsel at the CMPA, said that Canada takes a different approach than France, which works with institutions and agencies to achieve commitments to contributions.
“In France, it’s a direct process of negotiating with a public agency,” he said. “In Canada, it’s a public process.”
Ireland has also created a content levy.
Under the Online Media Safety and Regulation Act, which was signed into law in late 2022, independent Irish producers will receive 80 per cent of the funds raised through a content levy on streaming services and broadcasters beginning next year. Twenty-five percent of the fund will support producers creating Irish-language content, Susan Kirby, CEO of Dublin-based Screen Producers Ireland, told the conference.
Ireland’s broadcasting and online media regulator, the Coimisiún na Meán (Media Commission), oversees the levy that will collect funds to be distributed by Screen Ireland, the country’s state film, television and animation development agency.
The goal, said Kirby, is to support “Irish creative talent telling Irish stories, which we believe will both resonate domestically and globally.”
The situation in Canada is far different.
Just before Christmas, the Federal Court of Appeal granted major streaming companies a reprieve from contributing five per cent of their annual Canadian revenues to support the country’s broadcasting system, as ordered by the CRTC last June.
In its ruling, the court granted a stay of the CRTC’s policy requested by Amazon, Apple and Spotify, with hearings on their appeal scheduled for June.
Political climate will make for a ‘very difficult period’ for industry: Andrew Cardozo
But while legislation might open doors to advancing the development of creative content, politics can close them – particularly in Canada, with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs expected on Saturday and a federal election possible this spring, as Independent Ontario Senator Andrew Cardozo highlighted at Prime Time on Thursday.
“We’re entering a very difficult period for this industry,” said Cardozo, a former CRTC commissioner.
Should the Liberals remain in power, expect the status quo, minus a commitment, he said, “to cut the budget across the board in many ways.”
Should the Conservatives form the next government, which recent polls suggest will occur, Bill C-11 “will be repealed” along with an end to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies as is the case with the new Trump administration, Cardozo said.
“It will be much more harsh” in the U.S., he noted, “than it will be here.”
“I haven’t seen the Conservative Party in any way talk about improving, defending the range of cultural policies,” he added.
But beyond facing a party about to take power that is keen on defunding the CBC, the creative sector needs to be better understood by legislators, the senator suggested.
“People outside this industry don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “You’re talking a different language.”
Cardozo said that members of Parliament and their constituents are better served if they understand the importance of media production and the jobs it generates.
“Invite decisionmakers to your facilities,” he said. “You’re on the cutting edge of innovation” and “talk about the nation we are.”
Photo of Independent Ontario Senator Andrew Cardozo
