Fight brewing at CRTC over first Online News Act payment by Google

Article content

OTTAWA — A new fight is playing out at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission over the first $100-million annual payment Google agreed to pay Canadian news outlets.

The Canadian Journalism Collective, the group tasked by Google to distribute the money to news outlets, has submitted plans for its governance structure to the CRTC.

If the regulator is satisfied with those plans, it will grant Google an exemption from the Online News Act, which compels tech companies to enter into agreements with news publishers.

The exemption will then trigger the payments to news outlets.

But some news outlets say the plan put forward by the collective is incomplete, and fear that revising it would delay the payment.

Instead, they told the CRTC in written submissions they want Google to disburse the funds through an accounting firm while the permanent plan is fleshed out.

“The alternative — rejecting Google’s application outright _ risks bringing us back to square one,” Corus Entertainment said in its submissions. Corus is the parent company of Global News, which laid off 35 journalists in June. It said news outlets can’t wait for the money any longer.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters called for funds to “flow to qualified recipients as soon as possible.”

At the “very least,” the first round of funds should be distributed by the end of the year, the broadcasters’ group said.

The exemption will allow Google to comply with the legislation by paying into a single collective bargaining group that will serve as a media fund.

News Media Canada, which represents hundreds of publishers, said there is a lack of “critical information” about the Canadian Journalism Collective, including its governance and how it will calculate payments and distribute funds.

Google said it’s willing to make an initial $250,000 payment to help set up the organization that will disburse the funds, but the tech giant maintains that it shouldn’t have to begin making payments to news outlets until it receives a full exemption from the Online News Act.