Canadian Content Policy

Canadian content refers both to Canadian media programming and to a set of rules from the media regulator—the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)—obliging national broadcasters to adhere to a certain quota in their programming, plus specific criteria in terms of content. These Canadian criteria have varied over time, especially in terms of percentage required, the actors to which the regulations apply, and the manner in which Canadian content is measured.

At the beginning of radio broadcasting in Canada in 1922, radio stations belonged to private companies that carried out their traditional profit-seeking activities through the new mass medium of radio. At this time, broadcast content in Canada was largely American due to the geographic and historical proximity between the United States and Canada. This economic ...