OTTAWA, ONTARIO — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced that large online streaming services must contribute 15% of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content, while lowering the contribution requirement for traditional broadcasters to 25%. The decisions were made as part of the commission's implementation of the Online Streaming Act.

Traditional broadcasters in Canada currently pay between 30% and 45% of their Canadian revenues as contributions. The new financial contribution rules apply to streamers and broadcasters with at least 25 million Canadian dollars in annual Canadian broadcasting revenues.

Streamers with Canadian revenues of more than 100 million Canadian dollars annually must direct 30% of their spending toward partnerships with Canadian broadcasters and independent producers. The CRTC set out rules on how the money must be spent for both streamers and broadcasters, including contributions toward production funds and direct spending on Canadian content.

"The total contributions are expected to stabilize the funding at more than $2 billion in support of Canadian and Indigenous content, such as French-language content and news," the regulator said in a press release. The CRTC is also establishing a new fund to support specific TV channels, including CPAC, a Canadian service that provides direct coverage of political events.

The initial contribution requirement set out in 2024 was 5%. That requirement is being challenged in court by U.S.-based major streamers including Apple, Amazon and Spotify. The United States has identified the Online Streaming Act as a trade irritant ahead of trade negotiations with Canada.