Google to pay $75mn annually to media outlets

Canada's print media will receive nearly twothirds of an annual CAD$100 million (US$75 million) payment from Google to the country's news outlets in exchange for distribution of their content, the federal government announced Friday.

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At the end of November, after months of negotiations, Ottawa and Google announced a "historic" agreement, where the tech giant would pay Canadian media companies compensation for the loss of advertising revenue.

"The share that television and radio will receive is capped at 30%, that of CBC/Radio-Canada (the Canadian public broadcaster) at 7%, which leaves the remaining 63% for the written press," a federal official told journalists at a briefing.

Most of the payout will go to the print media because it is "really dependent" on online platforms to distribute its content, the official added.

"Canada has accomplished something historic," Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge told reporters.

She recalled that "newsrooms are experiencing a crisis which affects journalism, a foundation of our democracy."