(Gatineau) Bell Media owner BCE wants the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to create an information fund that would provide financial assistance to broadcasters and require foreign broadcasters to contribute to the subsidy by through their spending on Canadian content.
Bell representatives told a CRTC committee on Tuesday that the regulator should simultaneously exempt Canadian streaming platforms such as Crave from these new obligations until traditional broadcasters receive regulatory relief.
The hearing, which began Monday and is expected to last three weeks, is part of the CRTC’s public consultations in response to the Online Streaming Act, or Bill C-11, which came into force in April.
It seeks to determine what contributions traditional broadcasters and online streaming services will need to make to support Canadian and Indigenous content.
However, Bell says the CRTC’s “priorities are backwards” amid a crisis for Canadian broadcasters who have experienced declining revenues while facing competition from new digital platforms that do not face the same regulatory burdens.
The CRTC must also hear from Google on Tuesday, after a presentation on Monday from Quebecor.
Companies in this news report: (TSX: BCE, QBR. B)
