After Meta’s refusal, the federal government will at least have succeeded in signing a agreement with Google.
A step in the right direction, but it must be admitted that Minister Pascale St-Onge concluded a discounted agreement. Clearly, the government could not afford to have a failure with Google.
The web giant will have won on two fronts. First, instead of 172 million, it will be a sum of 100 million per indexed year. Also, instead of negotiating individually with each press outlet, Google will only have to speak with a collective.
Radio-Canada
At a press briefing on Wednesday, the Minister of Canadian Heritage did not want to comment on the CBC/Radio-Canada issue.
Clearly, it’s a hot potato for Mme St-Onge. When we look at the media situation across the country, it is clear that the state-owned company is greatly favored by its state funding unlike other players, such as Quebecor, Cogeco and Bell Media.
Thus, the Trudeau government should have already said no, but we must believe that we will have to wait for the draft regulation before having the answer.
For its part, the government of Quebec via its Minister of Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, is unequivocal: according to them, Radio-Canada should not receive the royalties.
Mr. Lacombe is right.
The details
It is often said that the devil is in the details, and that is absolutely the case when we think about the agreement between the federal government and Google.
The government’s press release says that Google will be able to pay the sums to the collective, which will then distribute them to the media “according to their number of full-time equivalents in journalism.” Additionally, the amount each media outlet will receive has not yet been determined.
So what happens next will be interesting. How will the cake be shared?
But first, the federal government must tell the CBC/Radio-Canada that it cannot come and sit at the kitchen table.