The CBC News network has learned that nearly two-thirds of the $100 million that Google must grant to news outlets across the country each year will be distributed to print and digital media, with the remaining third divided between CBC/Radio-Canada and private broadcasters.

A government source confirmed that the annual compensation granted to news organizations, as required by the Online News Act, will be distributed to outlets based on the number of full-time journalists they employ, but a cap will be set on CBC/Radio-Canada's share.

The extent of the maximum share for CBC/Radio-Canada will be detailed by officials from the Department of Canadian Heritage, who will provide more details on the breakdown Friday morning.

The Online News Act, which became law on June 22, 2023, will come into effect on December 19. The law requires digital platforms with 20 million unique monthly users and annual revenues of one billion dollars or more to compensate news outlets for sharing links to their pages.

Only Google and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, meet these criteria in Canada. The Google deal requires paying $100 million annually, with inflation taken into account. Facebook avoided the need to make its own deal by stopping sharing links to news pages.

As part of the deal, Google provided assurances that Canadian media will be treated fairly compared to deals it might make with news media in other countries.

The federal government also said that if media in other countries make a better deal with Google, the company will return to the federal government with the aim of resolving any concerns.

Eligibility and distribution...

When the Canadian government announced the deal, it said Google would meet with a single group to distribute the money, but Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge later said there might be several groups negotiating with Google.

St-Onge said the collective distributing the money will be required to do so transparently under the legislation and the process will be overseen by the CRTC [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission].

Under Section 11.1 of the Online News Act, news organizations eligible to receive funding under the deal include both non-profit and for-profit outlets producing local, regional, and national news content.

In the same context, critics of the bill said that legacy media that employ most Canadian journalists will benefit more from the fund, while media serving minority language, community, Indigenous, and independent groups could receive much less.

The legislation states that media receiving part of the funding must include outlets covering local and regional markets in every province and territory, English- and French-speaking communities, Black and other racialized communities, and must include a significant portion of official language minority community news.