Canada orders Netflix, streamers to spend 15% on local content

Canada has ordered Netflix, Amazon, Disney and other global streaming giants to spend 15% of their annual Canadian revenues on local content, tripling the previous requirement in a move that has reignited a brewing trade dispute with the United States.

The previous contribution floor for online streamers was just 5%. Traditional broadcasters now face a reduced obligation of 25%, down from a range of 30–45%.

Canada's broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), announced the regulations under the Online Streaming Act, a law designed to bring global platforms under the same domestic framework as traditional Canadian broadcasters.

More than half of each streamer's required contribution can be fulfilled through direct content production, with the remainder flowing into dedicated Canadian and Indigenous content funds.

According to the CRTC, the regulations have been introduced in order to make sure that these platforms "provide contributions that are equitable in nature to the creation of Canadian and Indigenous programming based on their size and their respective business models."

The Motion Picture Association, which represents Netflix, Paramount, Walt Disney, and Amazon, described the move as one that was unjustified and breached the provisions of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The CEO of the association, Charles Rivkin, stated that the move would triple the costs involved in operating in Canada.

The streaming companies had obtained an injunction against the requirement of a 5% contribution rate for Canadian content from the courts in December 2024.

The US Trade Representative's office recently named Canada's online platform laws as trade barriers in a formal report, and Republican lawmakers introduced legislation in March to launch a trade investigation specifically targeting the Online Streaming Act.

CRTC vice-president Scott Shortliffe acknowledged the friction plainly, saying, "No one ever likes being regulated. No one ever likes being asked that they should pay more into a system."

The CRTC also issued new rules on how Canadian content must be surfaced and discoverable on streaming platforms, a separate but related pressure point for the industry.