OTTAWA – The online streaming bill will generate at least $ 1 billion a year for Canada’s creative sector, including indigenous programs, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez told a committee of MPs on Monday.
Rodriguez revealed the figure to the Heritage Committee of the House of Commons, which is studying a bill to update the laws on broadcasting and their application to streaming services such as Netflix and Disney Plus.
Rodriguez said part of the money would go to support productions by indigenous peoples and minority communities, as well as French productions in Quebec.
The Heritage Department initially said the online streaming bill would generate about $ 830 million a year, prompting streaming services to fund Canadian creative work, as traditional television broadcasters are now doing.
Rodriguez said the amount would exceed $ 1 billion because – since his department initially made its calculations – more people have subscribed to streaming platforms such as Netflix.
More platforms, including Disney Plus, also came to Canada, and they became increasingly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said some of the funds will support a variety of programs, including in French.
“We want to be able to hear more diverse voices. We want to hear more voices from the indigenous people. Maybe we can do it with a mandatory provision. “Maybe we can find other ways to do it – and look at the official languages, and maybe other languages,” he said.
“The money will go to these purposes and will be over $ 1 billion a year.”
The minister said the “strengthening of provisions to support indigenous peoples and racial Canadians” in the bill was one of the “great ideas” he had heard being discussed in committee.
MEPs have heard that the bill will also burden some platforms to broadcast channels such as OutTV, which shows LBGTQ shows and movies.
At an earlier hearing of the commission, OutTV said some of the major foreign streaming platforms had refused to broadcast the channel and told them there would be no demand, which OutTV disputed.
Peter Julian, a critic of the NDP’s legacy, who raised the issue of OutTV in the committee, said $ 1 billion a year was a “significant amount”.
Kevin Waugh, a member of the Tory Committee, was surprised that it was so large and asked for more details on how it was calculated.
Thomas Owen Ripley, assistant deputy minister at Canadian Heritage, said part of the $ 1 billion could be used to support Canadian productions, including dramas, documentaries and children’s programs.
Ripley said the “just over $ 900 million” a year would come from “spending requirements” in a bill that drives streaming platforms like Netflix to spend a percentage of their revenue on Canadian productions, as traditional broadcasters do now.
He said traditional Canadian broadcasters currently spend just under $ 3 billion a year on Canadian programs, which includes news.
Ripley said that Netflix already has “a huge amount of production activity” in Canada, but “most of it will not currently qualify as a Canadian program” according to the current definition.
“Part of the incentive behind this bill is to get them to do more than the Canadian side,” Ripley said, including involving more “Canadian artists” and telling “more Canadian stories.”
Rodriguez said he would ask the Canadian Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the country’s broadcasting regulator, to modernize the definition of what would qualify as Canadian content, including film or television, once the bill is passed.
At a committee hearing last week, Stefan Cardin of Netflix said that titles produced or funded solely by Netflix would not qualify as officially Canadian under current rules “even when most of the key creative roles are played by Canadians.”
The minister, in frequent tense conversations with Conservative MPs, reiterated that the online streaming bill would not affect people who upload videos to YouTube.
Rodriguez said the CRTC has “zero” interest in regulating the publications of millions of people.
The minister said the bill would not cover consumer-generated content and would only cover commercial materials. When the bill was launched, Rodriguez said it could include a professional video broadcast on Spotify, which also appears on YouTube.
Rodriguez was confronted with constant questions from Conservative MPs about the definition of “commercial” content with Rachel Thomas, a Lethbridge MP, repeatedly urging him to put a number on it.
“What is the revenue threshold?” Who’s inside, who’s outside? “She insisted, accusing the minister of not answering her questions.
Rodriguez’s appearance is the second in the committee. He was forced to leave last week before being given the opportunity to speak as Tory and Liberal lawmakers debated on procedural issues, accusing each other of delaying tactics.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 6, 2022.
Add Comment