CRTC removes Canadian content requirements for sexually explicit content
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is officially ending Canadian content quotas for pornography broadcasters and streaming services.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is officially ending Canadian content quotas for pornography broadcasters and streaming services, a move by the federal regulator that scraps requirements for adult programming.
In a recent update to its certification protocols, the CRTC has removed Canadian content requirements for adult programming.
The CRTC stated that adult programming—defined as content “devoted to depicting explicit sexual activity”—will be exempt from requirements that apply to other genres of entertainment. The policy specifies: “Adult programming will not be certified as Canadian programs.”
This change eliminates a long-standing requirement that adult content meet the regulator’s Canadian content definition, which uses a detailed points system to determine eligibility. These rules require a program to have a Canadian producer, at least one Canadian lead performer, and financing that is at least 75 per cent Canadian.
In practice, videos featuring Canadians could fail certification if the production did not meet the financing threshold.
The rules had previously posed challenges for adult broadcasters. In 2014, three Canadian pornography channels—including the gay-focused Maleflixxx—faced the potential loss of their licences after warning the CRTC they could not produce enough certified Canadian content to meet their daily quota of 8.5 hours.
The CRTC’s update notes that broadcasters “generally agreed” that adult programming should be removed from Canadian content quotas.
The decision comes as the CRTC is finalizing how it will apply the federal Online Streaming Act, passed in 2023, which extends Canadian content rules to online platforms such as Netflix, YouTube and other large streaming services. The law gives the regulator authority to require platforms to promote certified Canadian programming through their algorithms.
The exemption means that adult streaming services—including large platforms headquartered in Canada such as Pornhub, the most visited Canadian website—will not be subject to those Canadian content requirements.