The Canadian Media Producers Association has filed leave to appeal the recent CRTC Canadian Content decision.
In a statement, CMPA said:
Since the release of the CRTC’s decision on the modernized definition of Canadian Content (“Cancon Decision”) last month, the CMPA has continued to review its implications for members.
At the time of its release, we noted that we were pleased to see that the CRTC had focused on Canadian ownership as a key tenet of domestic content production. However, further review has heightened concerns that the modernized definition will not enable producers to significantly benefit from their ownership in programs produced under this definition.
As a result, yesterday, the CMPA filed a motion with the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) for leave to appeal the Cancon Decision.
When the Online Streaming Act was passed in 2023, the legislation required the CRTC to consider:
“…whether Canadians, including independent producers, have a right or interest in relation to a program, including copyright, that allows them to control and benefit in a significant and equitable manner from the exploitation of the program.”
In our motion for leave to appeal, we contend that the modernized definition of Canadian content, as outlined in the Cancon Decision, fails to meet this requirement.
In addition, the legislation requires the CRTC to consider the extent to which broadcasters and streamers collaborate with Canadian independent producers. In our motion, we further contend that the Cancon Decision does not consider this requirement at all.
In terms of process, our actions yesterday ask the FCA to allow the CMPA to appeal the Cancon Decision. We expect that it will take at least a couple of months before the FCA renders a decision on whether it will hear our appeal.
In the meantime, the CRTC is expected to issue additional decisions related to the modernization of its regulatory framework. We expect the release of these decisions to continue as scheduled.
The CMPA strongly supports the Online Streaming Act and its overarching objective of bringing streaming services into the Canadian broadcasting system and having them contribute to the production of Canadian programming.