OTTAWA \u2014 CRTC chairperson Vicky Eatrides says the regulator would like to move more quickly to modernize Canada\u2019s broadcasting system, but implementing the new rules is complex work and the CRTC must consider conflicting opinions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would all like to go faster,\u201d she said in a wide-ranging interview with The Canadian Press. \u201cIt\u2019s balancing getting it done quickly and getting it done right. These are hugely complex issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CRTC has taken a lot of heat from critics who say it is taking too long to complete its work. On Tuesday, CPAC, the Canadian service that provides direct coverage of political events, said the CRTC\u2019s delay in implementing the Online Streaming Act was partly to blame for its decision to cut two flagship news programs.<\/p>\n
In a social media post reacting to the cuts at CPAC and the associated layoffs, Culture Minister Marc Miller said he was \u201cdisappointed that the CRTC is not moving faster to fully implement the Online Streaming Act, a law that ensures online streamers pay their fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Liberal government passed that legislation in 2023, setting up the CRTC to regulate streaming companies.<\/p>\n
The regulator initially said it would aim to begin the last phase of that work \u2014 implementing the new regulatory framework \u2014 in late 2024. The CRTC has introduced some new regulations, such as a new definition of Canadian content and initial contribution requirements for streamers, but has yet to hold consultations on other aspects of the bill.<\/p>\n
Eatrides said the work involves \u201cliterally completely overhauling decades-old regulatory frameworks \u2026 frameworks that have been in place forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of separate issues and tricky issues,\u201d she said, citing as one example the fact that the CRTC must account for English and French markets that are very different.<\/p>\n
The CRTC must also consider the interventions it receives through its public consultations. In the case of the Online Streaming Act, that means looking at more than 1,700 different submissions, according to a CRTC spokesperson.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving heard from so many different interveners with wildly different views on all of these issues, we\u2019ve taken an approach where we\u2019re trying to deal with issues almost on a progressive basis,\u201d Eatrides said.<\/p>\n
The CRTC has prioritized getting some decisions out quickly, she said \u2014 including one to grant CPAC\u2019s request to increase the wholesale fee from which it draws its revenues.<\/p>\n
Eatrides said the CPAC job losses are \u201ctroubling\u201d and the CRTC granted the increase CPAC requested \u201cwithin the time frame that they asked for.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Christa Dickenson, CPAC\u2019s president and CEO, said in an earlier interview that was a short-term fix and the broadcaster had expected the CRTC to have a longer-term solution to funding in place by now.<\/p>\n
One thing that hasn\u2019t affected the ongoing work, Eatrides maintained, is political pressure.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has identified the Online Streaming Act and Online News Act \u2014 which the CRTC is also in charge of implementing \u2014 as trade irritants ahead of negotiations on the continental trade pact. United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer reiterated his opposition to the Online Streaming Act while testifying at a Capitol Hill committee Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re takers of legislation,\u201d Eatrides said. \u201cOf course, we know what\u2019s happening globally, and we keep an eye on what\u2019s happening, but we\u2019re really focused on our mandate and getting the job done that was given to us by Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether the CRTC has had to adjust how it does that work because of political pressure, Eatrides said the regulator bases its decisions on the public record, including the many conflicting interventions it has received.<\/p>\n
So does she worry the government could eliminate two pieces of legislation the CRTC has now spent years working on?<\/p>\n
\u201cOur focus is really on getting to decisions, getting the right decisions in place so that we can fulfil the mandate that was given to us by Parliament. So that\u2019s really what we\u2019re focused on. And that keeps us busy,\u201d Eatrides said.<\/p>\n
She also pointed to an initial decision in 2024 to require streamers to pay five per cent of their annual Canadian revenues to funds devoted to producing Canadian content as one element the CRTC moved to put in place quickly.<\/p>\n
Streamers have launched a court challenge of that initial decision, and in December 2024, the Federal Court of Appeal put a pause on the payments, estimated to be at least $1.25 million annually per company, until it releases its decision \u2014 which it has yet to do.<\/p>\n
The CRTC has continued to work on establishing a final regime for streamers\u2019 financial contributions regardless, Eatrides said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re moving ahead,\u201d she said, noting it\u2019s not unusual for various parties to challenge CRTC decisions on both broadcasting and telecom.<\/p>\n
If the court strikes down the initial contribution requirements, that won\u2019t necessarily put an end to the CRTC\u2019s work, Eatrides indicated. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll need to see what the court decision says, but we\u2019ve certainly been given a mandate to ensure that there are contributions for the Canadian broadcasting system. So we will continue that work and we\u2019ll see how we might need to adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2026. <\/p>\n
Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 CRTC chairperson Vicky Eatrides says the regulator would like to move more quickly to modernize Canada\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[525,17,3952,4122,290,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-17735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-justice","11":"tag-media","12":"tag-national","13":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}