Federal court rules streamers can’t appeal CRTC’s financial disclosure rules

The Federal Court of Appeal has shut down major foreign streamers’ appeal of a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) rule that would require them to disclose domestic financial details.

The CRTC implemented the requirements as part of its modernization of Canadian content definitions — changes that mandate big streamers to publish their revenues and investments into the Canadian market. Motion Picture Association—Canada, which represents the likes of Netflix, Disney and Prime Video, filed a legal challenge to this ruling in December. Now, however, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that this challenge will not be able to move forward.

In their challenge, streamers claimed that this information is confidential and that publicly disclosing it could present serious harm to their business. The CRTC, meanwhile, has argued that any risk is unlikely to outweigh public interest in this information and that Canadian companies have long been required to do this.

On that note, the CBC has launched its own legal challenge of a ruling that would require it to disclose Gem subscriber counts. The Crown corporation argued that doing so “would harm its competitive position by providing sensitive data,” while Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard said it hadn’t demonstrated a “reasonable expectation” of said risks.

It will be interesting to see what all of these streamers do next in their efforts to avoid disclosing financial information.

Via: CityNews