Ottawa Frees Streamers From Burden of Funding the News You Refuse to Watch
In a move described as either bold deregulation or a quiet white flag, Ottawa will direct the CRTC to drop its requirement that Netflix, Disney+ and friends chip in to fund local news and niche Canadian broadcasters.
The streamers, who had been asked to subsidize the very journalism documenting their tax arrangements, expressed measured relief. Local news organizations, who had been counting on the money to keep covering municipal drainage meetings in Trois-Rivières, expressed something less measured.
A government source explained the logic: forcing global tech giants to fund Canadian content was, on reflection, exactly the kind of behaviour Washington tends to notice around tariff season. The CRTC, having spent two years drafting the rules, will now spend approximately twenty minutes shredding them.
Niche broadcasters affected include a punjabi-language farming channel, three Indigenous radio stations, and a Maritime current affairs programme whose entire newsroom is one woman named Brenda and a golden retriever named Producer.
Industry analysts noted that Canadians can still support local journalism the traditional way: by complaining loudly that nobody covers local issues anymore, then sharing an American op-ed about it on Facebook.
The streamers have promised to redirect the savings toward more important priorities, such as a fourth season of a reality show about people building cabins.