Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is asking the CRTC to deregister seven of its FAST channels as online undertakings — which it says were registered in error — or it may be forced to pull the channels from the Canadian market, it says.
The FAST channels include six from SPE affiliate Game Show Network LLC — Game Show Network, GET Comedy, Cinevault, Cinevault Westerns, Cinevault Classics and Crunchyroll (FAST channel) — and Culver Max Entertainment’s Sony KAL.
In a Part 1 application dated March 5 and made public Tuesday, SPE says the seven FAST channels are merely content providers to other undertakings and third-party platforms, such as Pluto TV, The Roku Channel and connected TVs from LG and Samsung, for example, and are not available on a direct-to-consumer basis in Canada.
Therefore, SPE argues, the channels in question do not fall within the definition of an “online undertaking” under the Broadcasting Act which, via the Online Streaming Act, extended the scope of Canada’s broadcasting regulations to include online streaming services and requires them to make base contributions toward Canadian content.
According to the definition, an online undertaking “means an undertaking for the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet for reception by the public by means of broadcasting receiving apparatus.” SPE argues in its Part 1 application the definition does not include indirect transmission by another party.
When the CRTC established its new online undertakings registration regulations in September 2023, SPE initially registered two direct-to-consumer SPE-affiliated services, Crunchyroll (operated by Crunchyroll LLC) and Sony LIV (operated by Culver Max), as online undertakings. It then sought guidance from CRTC staff about whether the seven SPE FAST channels should also be registered, and did so based on instructions from commission staff, SPE said in its March 5 application asking for the channels to now be deregistered.
After realizing the seven FAST channels should not be considered online undertakings — and subject to the CRTC’s base contribution orders — SPE asked the CRTC via a December 2024 letter for the channels to be deregistered and the orders revoked. The CRTC denied SPE’s request via an October 2025 letter and invited SPE to file a Part 1 application on the matter, saying the information provided by SPE was not sufficient to demonstrate the FAST channels in question are not online undertakings and to justify deregistration.
SPE says in its March 5 application the only reason these FAST channels are caught by the $10 million threshold for registration and the $25 million threshold for base contributions is because of their affiliation with the other two SPE-affiliated services (Crunchyroll and Sony LIV), because the CRTC applies these thresholds at the level of the Sony broadcasting ownership group.
“Given the low levels of revenues generated in Canada, such (FAST channel) services would otherwise be forced to consider exiting the Canadian market entirely if they are required to shoulder disproportionate regulatory burdens,” reads SPE’s application.
Interested parties have until April 30 to comment on SPE’s application.
