The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) says traditional broadcasters will see reduced fees, according to a decision published Thursday (March 22).

CRTC fees are used to finance the Commission’s operations, and are sourced from the industries it regulates: broadcasting and telecommunications. The CRTC previously charged two fees, with Part I representing a licensee’s proportional share of the total regulatory costs in a given year, and Part II as the cost of retaining a broadcasting licence. Part II fees were abolished after the passage of Bill C-11.

The fees were updated to reflect the addition of online streaming services to CRTC’s regulatory framework. The Commission issued a call for comments on the modernized broadcasting fees in August 2023.

In its decision, the CRTC said traditional broadcasters (a.k.a. non-online undertakings) will pay a lower percentage of total fees. Part I fees are determined by dividing a payee’s revenues by the aggregate revenues of all payees, and calculated against the amount the Commission needs to finance its broadcasting regulatory activities.

In addition, the Commission has established exemption thresholds based on revenue. Individual broadcasters will not pay fees on the first $2 million in revenue, while large broadcasting ownership groups will not pay on the first $25 million in revenue.

The Commission defines a broadcasting ownership group as “a group of all operators that are affiliates of one another.”

The fees are only calculated via revenues derived from regulatory activities. Among the list of activities under excluded revenue are providing audiobook services, podcast services and video game services. Activities that will not be excluded include online news, unique transaction services, advertising revenues or subscription revenues from undertakings that provide social media services, and gross revenue from undertakings supported by advertising.

The CRTC reported $33.9 million in total revenue for Part I fees in 2021-22, and $119.6 million for Part II fees during the same period.

The new fee regulations will come into force on April 1, with details to be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.

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