Online News Act funding capped for private broadcasters, CBC: Regulations

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OTTAWA — Final regulations for the Online News Act show the amount of funding private broadcasters will get through the government’s $100-million deal with Google will be limited, with an even lower cap for the CBC.

The regulations released on Friday say CBC/Radio-Canada will get no more than a $7-million share of the annual fund, while another $30 million at most will be reserved for other broadcasters.

The rest of the money is earmarked for other qualifying news outlets, such as newspapers and digital platforms.

For outlets to qualify for the money, their content must be available on Google Search, so it’s likely campus radio stations will be excluded from the funding under the deal.

Google agreed last month to contribute $100 million a year, indexed to inflation, to Canadian news publishers, in a deal that had the Liberal government bending to the tech giant’s demands after it threatened to remove news links from its search engine.

As a result, Google will be exempt from the legislation, which compels tech companies to enter into compensation agreements with news publishers for linking to their content, if it generates revenue for those digital giants.

Meta has responded to the new policy by ending access to news for Canadian users of Instagram and Facebook.

The only companies big enough to fall under criteria set out under the law are Google and Meta.

Google will instead enter into a single collective bargaining group that will serve as a media fund.

Once the law comes into effect next Tuesday, Google will have to launch an open call in which eligible news businesses have 60 days to request a slice of the $100-million pie.

The money will be distributed proportionately to how many full time-journalists companies employ.

In order for news businesses to be eligible, they must have at least two full-time employees.

Small print and digital outlets can expect to receive about $17,000 per journalist that they employ, an official with the Canadian Heritage Department said Friday in a technical briefing for journalists.

The briefing was provided on the condition that officials not be named.

Google still sees the Online News Act as “fundamentally flawed,” but is pleased it was able to find “a viable path to exemption in the final regulations,” a spokesperson for the company said.

“Fortunately, this means we will be able to continue sending valuable traffic to Canadian publishers and Canadians will be able to continue enjoying the Google products they know and love while we work through the exemption process,” the spokesperson said in a statement Friday.