OTTAWA — The federal government has released details of how its promised $600 million for Canadian content will be spent -- though it says the amount it will provide in future years could vary. In June, the government said it would provide $600 million in annual funding to replace financial contributions from big streamers like Netflix, which were mandated by the CRTC under the Online Streaming Act. Ottawa said it would issue a new policy direction to the CRTC, which has yet to be released. On Monday, a government spokesperson said the funding will be annual, though the amount could vary because the CRTC could still impose some level of financial contribution on streamers. “Once the new CRTC rules are finalized, the level of government investment will be adjusted as appropriate,” said Alisson Levesque, director of communications for Culture Minister Marc Miller. Financial contributions by streamers were cited by the United States as an issue in trade talks earlier this year, even though the government said it would direct the CRTC to back down. The federal budget released last week included only one year of the enhanced funding, for this fiscal year alone. Canadian Heritage said in a news release Sunday the $600 million will “provide stability and direct support to Canada’s audio and audiovisual sectors while longer-term policy, regulatory and market conditions evolve.” The Canada Media Fund is getting the largest chunk of that money -- $213.4 million -- to support the industry in a variety of ways, including through production and promotion of content. Various independent production funds will receive $185.1 million. The independent local news fund is getting $80 million of that sum, while $42.1 million will go toward what the CRTC classifies as services of exceptional importance -- such as CPAC, the Canadian media service that provides direct coverage of political events. Other allocations include $67 million for the Canada Music Fund, $51 million for the Indigenous Screen Office and $68.5 million for Telefilm Canada. The government says the money will “help sustain public-interest programming, local and community media, official language minority community production, the production and promotion of Canadian and Indigenous content, and the continued operation of services of exceptional importance.” In 2024, the CRTC made an initial order under the Online Streaming Act requiring large streaming companies to pay five per cent of their annual Canadian revenues to funds devoted to producing Canadian content. The Federal Court of Appeal put a pause on those payments. In May of this year, the CRTC said it would require big streamers to contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content. The government said shortly afterwards it would issue a new policy direction to the CRTC to adjust how it is implementing the Online Streaming Act. Over the summer, Ottawa cited U.S. demands on the visibility of Canadian content on streaming services as one of the reasons it cut off trade talks with the United States. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer maintained the issue for the United States was streaming companies being required to make financial contributions toward Canadian content. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2026. Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
