Ottawa’s five-year, $500-million Canadian content deal with Netflix drew swift reaction from the nation’s incumbent television content creators for the relatively low financial commitment. Quebecor, Bell and Rogers were quick to point out their Canadian content budgets far exceed the annualized $100-million figure, which represents less than two per cent of Netflix’s overall US$6-billion original programming budget for 2017 alone.

QUEBECOR:

“It might be suggested that the Trudeau government was taken to the cleaners when it agreed to exempt Netflix from taxation in exchange for an undertaking to spend $100 million on Canadian content for five years … TVA Group alone spends $300 million per year for just the Québec market. This paltry agreement is an insult to the leading role of broadcasters.”

ROGERS SPOKESPERSON SARAH SCHMIDT:

“We look forward to participating in the upcoming legislative and policy consultations announced by the Minister. Related to producing content in Canada … we invested over $660M in Canadian content last year and $580M the year before.”

BELL MEDIA SPOKESPERSON SCOTT HENDERSON: 

“We note that the Netflix contribution will be a fraction of what Canadian companies like Bell Media are required to pay. Our total annual investment in Canadian content in 2017/18 is 9 times the average amount that Netflix would contribute yearly.”