OTTAWA — Canada’s broadcast regulator has set new rules that would mandate streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon to pay 15 per cent of their Canadian revenue to fund Canadian content.

That’s a dramatic jump from the five per cent the regulator initially said they’d have to pay in 2024. The hike comes as streaming companies and U.S. lawmakers take aim at the government’s attempts to make online platforms pay into Canadian programs. 

The charge stems from the Online Streaming Act, passed in 2023 to bring Canada’s broadcast system into the current century and regulate the content on major streaming platforms operating in the country. 

The law requires streaming giants to contribute to Canadian productions and carry a certain amount of Canadian shows and movies—requirements that have raised the ire of the streaming industry and U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. 

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) estimates that the policy would affect about 10 large streaming companies, foreign and domestic. But it said there’s more work to do before the decision will be enforced. 

How it works: On Thursday, the CRTC set out differing rules for streaming services, depending on their size. Large streamers with annual revenue over $100 million have less flexibility in how they meet that 15 per cent Cancon spending target. They must invest two per cent of their Canadian revenue in programs made by official language minority communities, for example, and take up production partnerships with Canadians that hold the majority copyright in their programs. 

“We’re trying to establish paths where streaming services will see this as an investment in great content that will appeal to Canadian and international audiences,” said Scott Shortliffe, the regulator’s vice-president of broadcasting.

They will also be expected to put 1.55 per cent of their revenues into a new fund that will be established to support “services of exceptional importance,” which includes channels like CPAC, The Weather Network and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

Smaller streamers that make between $25 million and $100 million per year can decide for themselves how they want to spend the money, and can use up to 10 per cent of their contributions to advertise Canadian productions abroad. 

Court drama: The prospect of the new rules facing a legal challenge appears high, as several streaming companies have already gone to court to fight the five per cent the CRTC mandated in 2024. 

That base contribution was expected to bring in $200 million per year for Cancon, but companies are arguing in court that the CRTC doesn’t have the legal authority to impose the levy. 

A judge put a pause on the payments and has yet to make a decision. 

Even so, Culture Minister Marc Miller criticized the CRTC last month for being slow to bring in a final policy after CPAC laid off a dozen staff. “I’m disappointed that the CRTC is not moving faster to fully implement the Online Streaming Act, a law that ensures online streamers pay their fair share,” Miller said in a social media post. 

Big picture: The Trump administration has taken exception to the Online Streaming Act, which has prominent billing on U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s list of trade irritants.

Greer said the law discriminates against American tech and media companies—a view echoed by Republican lawmakers. In March, Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania introduced the Protecting American Streaming and Innovation Act, which would launch an investigation into whether Canada’s Streaming Act discriminates against American commerce. 

The CRTC didn’t decide the contributions with Canada-U.S. relations in mind, said Shortliffe. “Our job is to bring into effect the regulations based on the act that Parliament passed,” he said. “We’re not involved in trade negotiations.”