Key facts
- Canada's Culture Minister Marc Miller ordered the CRTC to review a decision on online streaming.
- The decision could impose new costs on service providers.
- These costs might be passed on to consumers as higher prices.
- Industry watchers believe the directive may hinder efforts to increase payments from U.S. companies for Canadian productions.
Canada's Culture Minister, Marc Miller, has directed the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to reconsider a recent decision concerning online streaming services. Miller expressed concerns that the original ruling could lead to increased operational costs for companies offering these services. He further indicated that these additional expenses might ultimately be transferred to Canadian consumers in the form of higher prices for streaming content. The minister's intervention signals a potential shift in the regulatory approach to digital content providers operating within Canada. Ottawa has requested a review of the CRTC's decision regarding Canadian content contributions from streaming services. Industry watchers and consumer groups stated that the directive undermines efforts by the CRTC to sharply increase the level of payments that U.S. companies like Netflix would have to fork over to finance Canadian productions. This move signals a potential shift in how online content is regulated and supported in Canada.