Google’s first payment to Canadian news media sparks internal CRTC battle

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OTTAWA — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is waging a new battle over the first $100 million in annual payments Google has agreed to make to Canadian news media.

The Canadian Press Alliance, the group Google has entrusted to distribute funding to news organizations, has submitted its plans for a governance structure to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

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If the regulator is happy with the plans, it would grant Google an exemption from the Online News Act, which forces tech companies to sign agreements with news publishers.

The exemption would trigger payments to news media.

But some news outlets said the plan the collective proposed was incomplete and worried that changes to the plan would delay payments.

Instead, they said in written submissions to the CRTC that they want Google to pay the money through an accounting firm while a permanent plan is developed.

“The alternative is to reject Google’s application outright, which would likely leave us back to square one,” Corus Entertainment said in its filing. Corus, the parent company of Global News, which laid off 35 journalists in June, said the news organization was tired of waiting for the money.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters called for the funds to “flow to eligible recipients as quickly as possible.”

Broadcasting groups say the first round of funds should be disbursed by at least the end of the year.

The exemption would allow Google to comply with the legislation by paying fees to a single collective bargaining organization that would serve as a media fund.

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News Media of Canada, which represents hundreds of publishers including the National Post, said it was lacking “critical information” about the Canadian Press Alliance, including its governance and how payments are calculated and funds allocated.

Google said it was willing to pay $250,000 as an initial fee to help set up the organization responsible for disbursing the funds, but the tech giant insisted it should not start paying news outlets until it obtains full exemption from the Online News Act.

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