New legislation will profit large Canadian media outlets and publishers by upwards of $329 million in government subsidies, if passed, according to Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Yves Giroux.
“We expect news businesses to receive a total compensation around $329.2 million per annum from digital platforms and spend about $20.8 million in transaction and compliance costs for negotiating their first deals under the Bill,” wrote the PBO in his “Cost Estimate for Bill C-18: Online News Act,” as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
Bill C-18 is titled “An Act respecting online communications platforms that make news content available to persons in Canada” and will regulate “digital news intermediaries,” such as Google and Facebook, in order to “enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace and contribute to its sustainability.”…