The CRTC will go ahead with Cancon rules the U.S. opposes. What will that look like?

OTTAWA — The federal broadcast regulator says it will go ahead with the process to put rules in place around Canadian content on streaming services, after such efforts played a role in ending trade talks with the U.S.

Here’s what you need to know about what those requirements might look like and what happens next.

Why is the CRTC mandating Canadian content be available on streaming?

The 2023 Online Streaming Act passed by the Liberal government says streamers should ensure “discoverability” of Canadian programs, including French language content.

The law says online streamers “shall clearly promote and recommend Canadian programming, in both official languages as well as in Indigenous languages, and ensure that any means of control of the programming generates results allowing its discovery.”

The CRTC is now in charge of implementing that legislation and developing specific rules for streamers.

The Online Streaming Act was introduced to update Canada’s 1991 Broadcasting Act for the streaming age.

Canada has long had rules in place requiring cable companies and broadcasters to contribute to or broadcast Canadian content. For instance, radio and TV stations have quotas of how much airtime has to be devoted to Canadian content. Online discoverability would extend that principle to digital streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ or Apple TV.

Why was this an issue for the United States?

Prime Minister Mark Carney said the U.S. put pressure on Canada to adjust its position on rules around discoverability, and that U.S. demands would have affected Canada’s ability to protect its culture, including the French language.

The U.S. has previously identified the Online Streaming Act as a trade irritant. In December, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told members of Congress that the Online Streaming Act is a “law that discriminates against U.S. tech and media firms.”

The law does not target U.S. companies, but key regulations are focused on large streamers — many of which are American.

On Monday, Greer said French wasn’t an issue in the talks, instead pointing to CRTC rules requiring U.S. streaming companies to make financial contributions toward Canadian content.

The CRTC also put those rules in place as part of its work under the Online Streaming Act, but the government has already moved to backtrack on requiring those financial contributions.

The government is declining to say whether what the U.S. was asking for was to repeal the Online Streaming Act entirely.

What are streamers required to do now?

There aren’t any specific rules on discoverability of Canadian or French-language content that the streamers have to follow yet.

The CRTC said in May it wouldn’t immediately put universal requirements for discoverability in place but instead work with each streamer to develop tailored rules.

A spokesperson said the CRTC will move forward to determine exactly how streamers must ensure Canadian content is available and visible to audiences, though it’s still finalizing the dates for the regulatory proceedings.

There is also a law in Quebec that would regulate discoverability of French-language content, but the specific rules haven’t been developed and there are questions around whether the law would be challenged, since broadcasting is federal jurisdiction.

What could the rules look like when they’re put in place?

Streaming platforms use algorithms to determine what content to recommend to each user, but the Online Streaming Act prohibits the CRTC from requiring “the use of a specific computer algorithm or source code.”

That CRTC’s May decision said the regulator defines discoverability as when content and services “are made available and visible to audiences, including when an audience member is not actively seeking such content and services”

It said Canadians should be able to easily find and consume “a full range of Canadian and Indigenous content and services, including in French, English, and Indigenous languages.”

That means content should be consistently presented on landing pages and in recommendations and playlists — and not be “limited to Canada-specific silos.”

Where do the various players stand?

The May CRTC decision said foreign streamers “generally opposed prescriptive discoverability obligations, arguing that they already take steps to make Canadian content discoverable on their platforms.”

The streamers said if discoverability requirements were put in place, they should be tailored to each platform.

Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, noted broadcasters already have Cancon quotas for TV and radio.

“I think it’s important and meaningful that foreign streamers who are operating in Canada and competing directly with Canadian broadcasters should have some sort of obligations that are fair as compared to those placed upon broadcasters,” he said in an interview.

Kyle Irving, chair of the board of directors of the Canadian Media Producers Association, said it’s time for the government to reconsider measures it’s previously backed away from, including financial contributions for streamers.

He said in an interview that making those concessions only fed “the American greed for more.”

“And so when the government came to that realization and the prime minister saw what was happening, he said enough. And so now I think it’s time to reload, rebuild, and reconsider all of these things.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 26, 2026.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press