The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) has moved forward in implementing changes to the Independent Local News Fund (ILNF) the same week foreign streamers are appearing in court to challenge the Commission’s base contributions decision.

On Monday (June 9), the CRTC issued key decisions on the Fund’s eligibility criteria, allocation and requirements, following a consultation process. Among them is a decision to add Corus Entertainment’s 15 Global stations to the list of eligible recipients and impose a 45% cap on funding for a single entity.

The Commission also added a requirement to make news content available online at the time of broadcast and available for a minimum of seven days; an incentive for news content reflecting “equity-deserving communities, Indigenous communities and official language minority communities”; and additional reporting requirements.

The eligibility criteria otherwise remained the same, despite several parties requesting to expand criteria to open it to community TV stations, as well as APTN and CPAC. In its ruling, the CRTC said those parties have access to other means of supporting news production, either through mandatory carriage rates or the Local Journalism Initiative.

The ILNF was established in 2016 and supports the television production of local news. It is managed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and is funded through contributions from Canadian BDUs via 0.3% of their broadcast revenues. In its June 2024 base contributions decision, the CRTC ordered eligible foreign-owned streamers to direct 1.5% of Canadian revenues to the Fund.

That decision is in front of the Federal Court of Appeal this week as several companies representing foreign streaming services make their case in front of the court as part of a four-day proceeding in Toronto from June 9 to 12.

Amazon, Apple Canada and Spotify have challenged whether the CRTC was unreasonable in requiring foreign-owned online undertakings to direct 5% of Canadian revenues to funds supporting domestic programming, if they meet the eligibility requirement of $25 million in annual Canadian revenues.

The Motion Picture Association of Canada (MPA-Canada) is specifically challenging the order for streamers to direct funds to local news, arguing that, since streaming services don’t provide local news, the companies should not be paying funds for content outside of its business model. In its argument, MPA-Canada said the Broadcasting Act specifies that foreign-owned undertakings should contribute in an “equitable manner” in consideration of the services they provide.

On Dec. 23, 2024, a judge granted a stay on the payments due for the base contributions until the matter is settled in court. Payments are based on the broadcast year, which ends on Aug. 31.

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