The Canadian government is at odds with the CRTC over levies on streaming services

This is a sticky one. The CRTC recently recommended that a levy of 15% be placed on the revenues of foreign digital streaming platforms with money going back into the Canadian creative system. It’s a new twist on the Online Streaming Act (aka “the streaming tax”), which stopped at 5%.

The original levy pissed off the streamers and Trump’s people and has been a sticking point in the renegotiations of trade deals, including a new version of the USMCA. You can imagine what they thought of a 15% levy.

The new CRTC recommendations are too much for the Canadian government, too. It says the levy “would impose new costs on the companies providing these services, which could ultimately fall on Canadian consumers through higher prices…At a time when Canadians face cost-of-living pressure, now is not the time to make culture and entertainment more expensive.”

The feds want the CRTC to go back to the drawing board. Even people within the broadcasting industry are skeptical, pointing out that at 15%, Canada would be disproportionately outsourcing funding of domestic product to foreign entities. Domestically, we would possibly grow to be overly dependent on that funding. So if that funding were to ever disappear…

However, the majority of broadcasters aren’t happy, alleging that the government has sold out to Big Tech. Meanwhile, the feds just announced a $600 million/year investment in Canadian culture, something that would replace the levy.

It should be noted that countries like France and Australia have levies on foreign DSPs. Funny how we never hear about that, huh? In fact, Australia is seriously talking about quotas again.