Canada’s broadcast regulator will begin it’s process later this year of defining “Canadian and Indigenous content” under the new broadcasting-system regulations that will come into effect as a result of Bill C-11, Online Streaming Act, passing into law.
The CRTC then plans to begin holding public consultations this winter and into early 2024 to receive feedback from Canadians about its incoming proposed definitions of Canadian and indigenous content.
The broadcast regulator says the consultations will “review the definition of Canadian content and examine possible changes.”
The CRTC also plans to hold public consultations on a number of other related matters, such as potential “tools to support Canadian music and other audio content.”
Ongoing Consultations
The CRTC says it plans to implement its new online regulatory framework by late 2024. It is currently holding three public consultations to help inform its future policies in that framework.The broadcast regulator is currently proposing that only those streaming services posting over $10 million in annual revenue be required to register.
‘Transition Period’
In particular, the broadcast regulator said its proposed new policies outlined in the ongoing consultations are meant to ensure that “online streaming services make meaningful contributions to Canadian and Indigenous content.”In a consultation notice issued on May 12, the CRTC said one of its proposed policy objectives was making sure that “both Canadian and international online undertakings participate in the support of Canadian and Indigenous audio and video content and have equitable access to those supports when creating this content.”
Yet another proposed objective said the federal government should implement both “incentives and other regulatory measures” in order to better support the “creation and distribution of Canadian content by communities that are currently under-represented in the broadcasting system.”
At the same time, the CRTC said Canadian and indigenous “audio and video content” should be widely distributed on both domestic and international streaming platforms.
As a result, Rodriguez only reappointed CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait to an 18-month second term after she was initially appointed to a five-year term in 2018.
Rodriguez said the “context” of Canada’s online landscape “will be so different” with the passage of the Online Streaming Act, the anticipated passage of Bill C-18, or the Online News Act, and “the modernization of CBC.”
“We’re in a transition period,” he told reporters on June 1. “There will be a very different environment in a year and half.”