(Gatineau) Telus says that in the dramatically changing broadcasting landscape, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) should modify the regulatory framework to account for subscribers and revenues moving from the traditional system to foreign streaming services.
The company provided its comments to the Commission on Thursday, the penultimate day of the CRTC’s three-week hearing in response to the Online Streaming Act.
This law, which received royal assent in April, aims to update federal legislation to require digital platforms such as Netflix, YouTube and TikTok to contribute to and promote Canadian content.
She prompted the regulator to explore the possibility of asking streaming services to make an initial contribution to the Canadian content system to level the playing field for domestic companies that are already required to support the Canadian content.
Telus believes that, as a first step, foreign streaming broadcasters should be required to contribute 3% of their annual revenues in Canada to the system, while calling on the regulator to lower the current mandatory contribution level of 5% for traditional broadcast distributors.
Telus’ position is generally aligned with that of its Canadian broadcast competitors, while streamers who appeared before the CRTC panel throughout its consultation largely urged the regulator not to impose such contributions.
