OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canadian Government passed legislation yesterday requiring all streaming services accessible in Canada to support Canadian content, including language that appears to limit the amount of adult content available for viewing in the country.
The Online Streaming Bill, Bill C-11, was approved by the Canadian Senate and received royal assent yesterday, officially passing into law.
Bill C-11 requires all digital streaming services accessible in Canada to pay to create and support Canadian content (CanCon). It also empowers the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the country’s broadcast regulator, to define what constitutes CanCon and to impose financial penalties on digital streamers that don’t meet its standards.
According to the text of the bill, “online undertakings shall clearly promote and recommend Canadian programming, in both official languages as well as in Indigenous languages.”
Providers or distributors of streaming content — including adult studios and paysites, even if based outside of Canada — could comply with the law by apportioning a certain percentage of their production and promotional budgets to making and promoting Canadian content, or else by removing enough non-Canadian content from their Canadian portals to satisfy percentage requirements. Penalties for failing to comply include heavy fines or restricting Canadian access to sites in violation.
As XBIZ reported, the CRTC has previously regulated adult broadcast channels in Canada, including XXX Action Clips and the gay-oriented Maleflixxx, to ensure that at least 35% of their adult content was Canadian.
Concerns About ‘Overreach’
The new law is vague about defining CanCon and what the requirements and penalties will be, leaving the particulars to the discretion of the CRTC.
Bill C-11 is also ambiguous as to whether it applies to independent content creators and the premium fan platforms where they upload content. While it does specify that the act “does not apply in respect of programs uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service by a user of the service,” it does not contain language defining what providing “a social media service” means.
Last month, the opposition Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) accused the Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of overreaching with the bill, expressing concerns that it would apply to all uploaded content.
CPC House of Commons member Rachael Thomas said that the bill will apply to content that “normal everyday average Canadians” would post online.
“Your aunt Betty’s cat video,” Thomas warned, is “captured by this legislation.”
While CanCon is not currently defined as it applies to online streaming platforms, there is a rigid system in place for television broadcasters that could be used as a framework for the new regulations, under which 30% of all broadcast and cable television programming must meet the following criteria:
1. The producer must be Canadian and is responsible for monitoring and making decisions pertaining to the program.
2. The production earns a minimum of six out of 10 points based on the key creative functions that are performed by Canadians — Canadian directors and screenwriters each earn two points; first- and second-lead performers, productions designers, music composers, directors of photography and picture editors each earn one point.
3. At least one of either the director or screenwriter positions and at least one of the two lead performers must be Canadian.
4. A minimum of 75% of program expenses and 75% of post-production expenses are paid for services provided by Canadians or Canadian companies.
XBIZ has reached out to the Canadian Ministry of Heritage, which oversees the CRTC, for comment.