The government quietly released details on Sunday of how it will allocate the $600 million it promised in June when it announced plans to kill the CRTC’s Online Streaming Act ruling on Internet streamer contributions. The plan largely copies the CRTC’s 2024 base contribution decision, with public tax dollars replacing streamer contributions at a rate far higher than the Commission expected. The windfall is seemingly another by-product of a policy the government is making up as it goes along: cancel the CRTC decision and use back-of-the-napkin math for $600 million, then rely on the same CRTC decision for allocations with the public paying cultural groups far more than the streamers would have been required to contribute. The government plan, booked for a single year ending in March 2027, notably includes $91.5 million for the broadcaster news funds that the streamers have been fighting in court. Five months after the bombshell decision, the government still has not released its promised policy direction to the CRTC, yet it has adopted the Commission’s framework for how it will divide the money.
Recent Posts
Back-of-the-Napkin Cultural Policy: The Government’s $600 Million Streaming Plan Copies the CRTC Decision It Killed at More Than Double the Cost 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 282: Udbhav Tiwari on Why Signal May Exit Canada Over Bill C-22’s Encryption and Metadata Retention Rules 
From Making Web Giants Pay to Paying Media Giants: Budget 2026 Replaces the Government’s Internet Platform Strategy With $1.5 Billion in Taxpayer Dollars for Culture and News 
Has the Government Read Its Own Bill? What Three Days of House Debate Revealed About Bill C-34 Before the Committee Hearings Begin 
Surveillance By Design: Government Officials Say Lawful Access Could Reach Gaming Platforms, Daycares and AI Services
