Netflix has pulled sponsorship from several Canadian professional arts development programs in response to the government’s Bill C-11, better known as the Online Streaming Act.
Under the act, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires foreign streamers who operate in Canada to contribute five percent of their annual domestic revenue to local news production and Canadian content. The Motion Picture Association-Canada (MPA-Canada), which represents the of Netflix, Disney+ and Paramount+, has already filed two legal challenges to oppose the new rule.
Netflix, for its part, had invested over $25 million into local film and TV programs since 2017, including the Indigenous-focused imagineNATIVE, B.C.’s Pacific Screenwriting Program and Toronto-based Hot Docs.
“Despite our long-standing commitment, the government has chosen not to acknowledge our substantial support for the Canadian film and TV sector. Consequently, we will be unable to continue funding many of the programs that have come to rely on our backing, as we are now required to allocate resources to meet the CRTC’s new investment mandate,” said Netflix in a statement to The Globe and Mail.
In The Globe‘s report, several representatives of these arts organizations expressed concerns about their future amid the lack of Netflix’s funding. As The Globe notes, Netflix’s funding has helped further the careers of more than 1,200 Canadian writers, directors, producers and performers.
In May, the CRTC said it will implement the Online Streaming Act late next year. It remains to be seen if the MPA-Canada’s legal challenges and/or the protests of these other parties might result in an amendment of these plans.
Source: The Globe and Mail
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