If Canadians want to watch locally-made television, they might not find much of it on their laptops, research by Canada’s broadcast regulator suggests.
A study into online streaming by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission obtained via an access-to-information request shows that Canadian content makes up less than one-third of the viewing choices on English streaming sites in Canada.
Streaming websites allow customers to watch movies and TV via the internet, usually charging a subscription fee that gives access to large selections of entertainment.
Out of the better-known streaming sites, US-based Netflix had the least local content on its Canadian service: broken down by minute, about 14 per cent of its movies and TV shows were Canadian.
For local companies such as Rogers and Bell Media, the study showed that about one-quarter of their streaming content is Canadian.
The CRTC doesn’t force streaming sites to offer any Canadian-made series, however, broadcasters are obliged to air 50 per cent Canadian programming during primetime.
CTV and CBC were the only sites to offer a majority of Canadian-made series, including popular, critically-acclaimed shows like Orphan Black and Schitt’s Creek. But this should not be a surprise: both companies are broadcasters, who already own large selections of Canadian content for their TV networks.
Brian Baker, president of the Directors’ Guild of Canada, says that it’s a problem for his members’ livelihoods that streaming sites like Netflix aren’t required to carry Canadian-made programming.
“If there’s less Canadian production, there’s less Canadian work for our members,” says Baker.
For French-language Canadian TV, the picture is rosier. Locally made content makes up about half of what’s available on French streaming sites run by Bell and Videotron.
Founder of Canadian television news website TV, Eh? Diane Wild says this is because the Quebec market has more space for locally-made programming.
“They don’t have the factor of US series competing with them.”
Various groups, from Ontario’s Culture Ministry to supporters of the Canadian TV industry have promoted more regulation of sites like Netflix, especially following a spat between the CRTC and Netflix last fall after Netflix refused to provide statistics about its Canadian content.
However, the CRTC has said it does not plan to change the rules for streaming sites.
Ian Morrison, a spokesperson for independent watchdog group the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, says that online streaming companies who want to sell their wares in Canada should work with Canadians.
“Netflix should be contributing a certain percentage of its revenues to a fund for Canadian programming. That’s what Rogers cable is required to do,” says Morrison.
Although the CRTC study is two years old now, Morrison says he believes that online streaming sites have not improved their levels of Canadian content.
According to Wild, streaming sites’ lack of Canadian content could stem from a dated assumption that audiences think Canadian TV is low-quality.
“There were a lot of really terrible Canadian TV shows for a while,” says Wild. “If you haven’t watched a Canadian show since The Beachcombers, you might think that’s the state of the production industry.”
But Wild says that Netflix has been willing to carry popular Canadian shows. “They picked up Trailer Park Boys after it went off the air,” she says. “If it’s a great idea or a great show, they don’t care where it comes from.”
Media policy consultant Kelly Lynne Ashton says it’s difficult for Netflix to get rights to Canadian programming from the companies who own the broadcast rights.
“Bell, Shaw, Rogers, they hold back all of their shows because they have their own streaming platforms that they want to keep these shows for,” she says.
In a statement, Netflix director of corporate communications Anne Marie Squeo said Netflix is dedicated to working with Canadian studios and partners to provide high-quality content to Canadian audiences. Bell and Rogers would not offer comment.
Previously released ATIP requests
Selected pages from my document can be found at this link.
What is the information?
This information is a study by the CRTC from 2012 detailing the percentage of Canadian content as part of the total content available on streaming sites in the Canadian market. They use three measures: the percentage of shows which are Canadian, the percentage of total episodes which are Canadian, and the percentage of total minutes which are Canadian content.
From which department and level of government did you obtain these documents?
I obtained this document from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), who had released it for a previous access-to-information request. It is at the federal level.
Why was this information helpful?
This information spells out the CRTC’s findings in a clear way, indicating which streaming websites have high ratios of Canadian content and which ones do not, providing a clear and unambiguous starting point for a story.