Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 160, Number 22: SUPPLEMENT 1

May 30, 2026

SUPPLEMENT 1 Vol. 160, No. 22

Canada Gazette

Part I

OTTAWA, Saturday, May 30, 2026

COPYRIGHT BOARD

CBRA Commercial Media Monitoring Tariff (2027-2029)

• Citation: CBRA Commercial Media Monitoring Tariff (2027-2029), 2026 CB 3-T-1
• See also: CBRA Media Monitoring Tariffs (2027-2029), 2026 CB 3

Published pursuant to section 70.1 of the Copyright Act

Lara Taylor
Secretary General
1‑833‑860‑7131 (toll-free number)
1‑833‑369‑0396 (TTY)
registry-greffe@cb-cda.gc.ca (email)

CBRA Commercial Media Monitoring Tariff (2027-2029)

Definitions

1. In this tariff,

“CBRA broadcaster”

means anyone that has authorized the CBRA to collect royalties from monitors on its behalf for the fixation or reproduction of programs or communication signals; (« radiodiffuseur de la CBRA »)

“CBRA item”

means an excerpt, monitoring note, summary note or transcript of a CBRA program; (« produit CBRA »)

“CBRA program”

means a program in which copyright is owned or controlled by a CBRA broadcaster, whether or not the program is embedded in a CBRA signal; (« émission de la CBRA »)

“CBRA-related gross income”

means the gross amount or value of other considerations received in connection with the exploitation of the fixation or reproduction of any CBRA program or CBRA signal (such as any sale, rental or other dealing in a CBRA item) or the provision of any related good or service (such as research or monitoring), excluding applicable taxes as well as the actual out-of-pocket cost for recording media, their labelling and delivery charges; (« revenu brut CBRA »)

“CBRA signal”

means a communication signal broadcast by a CBRA broadcaster; (« signal CBRA »)

“communication signal”

has the meaning attributed to it in section 2 of the Copyright Act, which reads:

• “ ‘communication signal’ means radio waves transmitted through space without any artificial guide, for reception by the public.”

This includes the signal of a conventional or specialty service; (« signal de communication »)

“excerpt”

means an excerpt of a program; (« extrait »)

“monitor”

means anyone that sells, rents or otherwise deals in excerpts, monitoring notes, summary notes or transcripts through any means and in any form; (« entreprise de veille »)

“monitoring note”

means a short written description of all or part of a program; (« survol »)

“program”

means a radio or television news program, current affairs program or public affairs talk show; (« émission »)

“summary note”

means an extended written summary of all or part of a program; (« sommaire »)

“transcript”

means a transcription in any form of the text or spoken content of all or part of a program; (« transcription »)

“year”

means calendar year. (« année »)

Ambit

2. (1) A monitor that complies with this tariff may do any act described in sections 3 to 8.

(2) This tariff only grants rights with respect to the elements in a CBRA program in which a CBRA broadcaster owns or controls the copyright. A CBRA broadcaster may not own or control the copyright in certain elements (such as rights in the music or in the performances) or certain portions (such as newswire feeds) of CBRA programs. The monitor is solely responsible for obtaining and paying for any authorization required to use those elements.

(3) This tariff does not grant any rights with respect to

• (a) a work that is not a CBRA program, even if it is embedded in a CBRA signal; or
• (b) a signal that is not a CBRA signal, even if a CBRA program is embedded in the signal.

(4) A monitor is not entitled to fix, reproduce or sell, rent or otherwise deal in a CBRA program, CBRA signal or CBRA item except as allowed by this tariff.

(5) This tariff does not apply where there is an agreement between the CBRA and a monitor, for the period covered by the agreement.

Permitted Uses

3. A monitor may reproduce CBRA programs and fix CBRA signals on any medium, but only for the purpose of doing an act described in sections 4 to 8.

4. (1) A monitor may reproduce no more than two excerpts of up to a maximum of 10 minutes each of any CBRA program, as well as the portion of CBRA signal on which the excerpt is embedded.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), in any given year, up to a maximum of 10% of excerpts of CBRA programs provided to all customers on audiotape, 10% of excerpts of CBRA programs provided to all customers on videotape, 10% of excerpts of CBRA programs provided to all customers on other media, 10% of excerpts of CBRA programs provided to all customers pursuant to subsection 6(1) [listening over the telephone], 10% of excerpts of CBRA programs provided to all customers pursuant to subsection 6(2) [email attachments] and 10% of excerpts of CBRA programs provided to all customers pursuant to section 7 [database access] may exceed the limits set out in subsection (1).

5. A monitor may sell or rent copies, on any medium, of an excerpt made in accordance with section 4.

6. (1) Subject to subsection (3), a monitor may allow a customer who requires immediate access to listen over the telephone to a recording of an excerpt made in accordance with section 4.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), a monitor may send to a customer who requires immediate access a video excerpt made in accordance with section 4 as an email attachment with a resolution no greater than 320 pixels by 240 pixels and with a frame rate no greater than 15 frames per second.

(3) The number of CBRA items provided pursuant to subsection (1) or (2) each year cannot exceed 10% of the total number of CBRA items the monitor provides to all its customers in any year.

7. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a monitor may include transcripts and video excerpts of CBRA programs in a password-secured database.

(2) The operation of a database referred to in subsection (1) shall be subject to the following conditions:

• (a) only excerpts made in accordance with section 4 shall be included in the database;
• (b) excerpts shall have a resolution no greater than 320 pixels by 240 pixels and a frame rate no greater than 15 frames per second;
• (c) excerpts shall be removed from the database no later than 10 days after they are broadcast;
• (d) access to the database shall be restricted to
  • (i) persons that have been customers of the monitor for at least three months and that are public relations companies or the communications or public relations departments of businesses or public sector organizations, and
  • (ii) anyone else, if that person has agreed in writing to the conditions set out in subsection 10(2) and if, after receiving a copy of the executed agreement, the CBRA so consents;
• (e) a customer shall determine whether it wishes to view an excerpt by reviewing a monitoring note for the excerpt. A customer who opens the file containing the excerpt shall be obligated to pay for the excerpt;
• (f) a customer may download an excerpt; however, a monitor shall not allow anyone to reproduce, perform, communicate (which includes broadcast, download, email or transmit), display, distribute or make available any excerpt by any means whatsoever, although a customer may circulate internally an excerpt by means that are strictly internal;
• (g) The CBRA shall be entitled to review and approve all security and other elements of the database and the monitor’s provision of viewing access to excerpts, to determine whether access can be provided without excerpts being reproduced, performed, communicated, displayed, distributed or made available; and
• (h) The CBRA shall have free access to the database for the purposes set out in paragraph (g) and in order to determine the contents of the database at any given time.

(3) The number of excerpts downloaded pursuant to paragraph 7(2)(f) cannot exceed 10% of the total number of CBRA items the monitor provides to all its customers in any year.

8. A monitor may create and sell, rent or otherwise deal in monitoring notes, summary notes or transcripts of CBRA programs in any form.

9. (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (4), a monitor shall destroy anything it possesses or controls that was made pursuant to sections 3 to 8 no later than 31 days after the day the relevant program or signal was broadcast.

(2) A monitor shall destroy a transcript or copy of transcript of a CBRA program no later than 12 months after the day the transcript was made.

(3) A monitor may keep monitoring notes and summary notes of a CBRA program indefinitely.

(4) A monitor may, with the authorization of a CBRA broadcaster, keep anything made pursuant to this tariff that embodies a program or signal that is owned or controlled by that broadcaster.

10. (1) This tariff only entitles a monitor to sell, rent or otherwise deal in CBRA items with customers that are corporations or public sector organizations.

(2) Before a monitor sells, rents or otherwise deals in any CBRA item with a customer, the monitor shall ensure that the customer has agreed in writing to the following conditions:

• (a) the customer shall use CBRA items only for its own private, non-commercial internal review and analysis;
• (b) the customer shall not perform, reproduce, communicate (which includes broadcast, download, email or transmit), display, distribute or make available any part of a CBRA item by any means whatsoever, but may circulate internally a CBRA item by means that are strictly internal;
• (c) the customer shall not copy, show or provide any part of a CBRA item to any other person, except as the monitor may specifically authorize in the case of reproductions of paper copies of transcripts;
• (d) the customer shall not use any part of a CBRA item in connection with any legal, regulatory or administrative proceeding, political campaign or meeting of a political nature, for marketing, advertising, publicity, endorsements or promotional purposes, or for any purpose that is contrary to law;
• (e) the customer shall not use a CBRA item in any manner that is not allowed pursuant to this tariff; and
• (f) the customer shall acknowledge that all rights, including copyright, in an excerpt or transcript of a CBRA program are the sole property of the relevant CBRA broadcaster.

(3) A monitor shall not knowingly sell, rent or otherwise deal in CBRA items with anyone who intends to contravene any of the terms set out in subsection (2).

11. A monitor shall ensure that any CBRA item it provides, any computer interface used to access a database and any email message to which an excerpt of a CBRA program is attached has a clear statement, label or video lead-in stating the following:

“Copyright protected and owned by broadcaster. Your licence is limited to private, internal, non-commercial use. All reproduction, broadcast, transmission or other use of this work is strictly prohibited.”

12. A CBRA broadcaster, or the CBRA at its direction, may, by notifying a monitor in writing, restrict the monitor from selling, renting or otherwise dealing in a CBRA item if the broadcaster believes that this could raise a legal issue or result in liability.

13. (1) If a CBRA broadcaster broadcasts a correction, clarification or similar statement regarding the content of a CBRA program, a monitor, upon receiving a written notice to that effect, shall immediately provide a copy of the statement to each customer who had access to a CBRA item derived from that program.

(2) No royalties are payable with respect to any CBRA item in respect of which a statement is supplied pursuant to subsection (1).

(3) A monitor shall be entitled to deduct from its CBRA-related gross income the costs it incurs to make and send any statement supplied pursuant to subsection (1), calculated at the retail price less 10%.

ROYALTIES

14. (1) Each month, a monitor shall pay to the CBRA a royalty equal to 14% of the monitor’s CBRA-related gross income in the second month before that month.

(2) Royalties payable pursuant to subsection (1) shall be paid no later than the first day of the month.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no royalties are payable on income a monitor’s division receives from another division for providing a CBRA item to the second division if the second division includes any income it derives from that CBRA item in its CBRA-related gross income.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no royalties are payable on income a monitor receives from another monitor for providing a CBRA item to the second monitor if the first monitor advises the CBRA that the second monitor shall include any income it derives from that CBRA item in its CBRA-related gross income and if the second monitor so does.

(5) Royalties payable under this tariff are exclusive of any federal, provincial or other governmental taxes or levies of any kind.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS

Reporting Requirements: Monitors

15. (1) When a royalty payment is due, a monitor shall also provide to the CBRA the following information in respect of the second month before the month for which the payment is due:

• (a) the name of the monitor, that is,
  • (i) the name of a corporation and a mention of its jurisdiction of incorporation,
  • (ii) the name of the proprietor of an individual proprietorship, and
  • (iii) the names of the principal officers of all operating offices owned or controlled directly or indirectly by the monitor,
• together with any other trade name under which it carries on business;
• (b) the address of the monitor’s principal place of business;
• (c) the address of each of its branches or associated offices;
• (d) the name, call letters and network affiliation (if any) of each CBRA signal monitored in each office;
• (e) the monitor’s CBRA-related gross income and the royalties attributable to each CBRA signal; and
• (f) the monitor’s CBRA-related gross income and the royalties attributable to each CBRA program.

(2) Within 30 days of the end of a year, a monitor shall provide to the CBRA, with respect to that year, a list of its customers and sufficient information to determine the monitor’s compliance with subsections 4(2) and 6(3).

Errors

16. A monitor that discovers an error in any information provided to the CBRA shall promptly provide the correct information.

Reporting Requirements: CBRA

17. The CBRA shall, upon request, provide a monitor with an updated version of the list of CBRA signals set out in the Appendix of the reasons for decision.

Records and Audits

18. (1) A monitor shall keep and preserve, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and for a period of six years from the end of the relevant year, accounts and records from which the CBRA can readily ascertain the amounts payable and the information required under this tariff including,

• (a) for each sale, rental or other dealing in a CBRA item, the name and address of the customer as well as the gross revenues related to that CBRA item;
• (b) for each excerpt made of a CBRA program, the call letters of the signal; and
• (c) for each excerpt made of a CBRA program, the title of the program, as well as the date, time and duration of the excerpt.

(2) The CBRA may audit these records at any time, on reasonable notice and during normal business hours.

(3) If an audit discloses that royalties due to the CBRA were understated in any month by more than 5%, the monitor shall pay the reasonable costs of the audit within 30 days of the demand for payment being made.

Confidentiality

19. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), information received pursuant to this tariff shall be treated in confidence, unless the monitor that supplied the information consents in writing to the information being treated otherwise.

(2) Information referred to in subsection (1) can be shared

• (a) to comply with this tariff;
• (b) with the CBRA’s professional advisers, if their rules of professional conduct require them to treat the information in confidence or if they agree in writing to maintain such information in confidence;
• (c) with the Copyright Board;
• (d) in connection with proceedings before the Copyright Board, if the CBRA has first provided a reasonable opportunity for the monitor providing the information to request a confidentiality order;
• (e) to the extent required to effect the distribution of royalties, with a CBRA broadcaster; or
• (f) if required by law or by a court of law.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to information that is publicly available, to information obtained from someone other than the undertaking and who is not under an apparent duty of confidentiality to that undertaking or to information that has been aggregated so as to prevent the disclosure of commercially sensitive information.

Adjustments

20. (1) Subject to subsection (2), adjustments in the amount of royalties owed by a monitor (including excess payments), as a result of the discovery of an error or otherwise, shall be made on the date the monitor’s next royalty payment is due.

(2) A monitor may deduct any amount owed to it from its next payments to the CBRA until no money remains owed to it.

Interest on Late Payments

21. (1) Any amount not received by the CBRA by the due date shall bear interest from that date until the date the amount is received.

(2) Any amount found to be owing to the CBRA, through an audit or otherwise, shall bear interest from the date it was due until the date the amount is received.

(3) Interest shall be calculated daily, at a rate equal to 1% above the Bank Rate effective on the last day of the previous month (as published by the Bank of Canada). Interest shall not compound.

Addresses for Notices

22. (1) Anything that a monitor sends to the CBRA shall be sent to P.O. Box 82011, RPO Riverside South, Ottawa, Ontario K1V 2N9 or to any other address of which the monitor has been notified in writing.

(2) Anything that the CBRA sends to a monitor shall be sent to the address provided by the monitor in accordance with paragraph 15(1)(b) or, where no such address has been provided, to any other address where the monitor can be reached.

Delivery of Notices and Payments

23. (1) A notice may be delivered by hand or by postage-paid mail.

(2) A notice or payment mailed in Canada shall be presumed to have been received three business days after the day it was mailed.

Appointment of Designate

24. (1) Any person that the CBRA designates to receive a payment or notice shall have an address in Canada.

(2) The CBRA shall notify a monitor at least 60 days in advance of such a designation or of any change therein.

Exemptions Regarding Below-Threshold Media Monitoring Revenues

25. (1) In this section, “total media monitoring revenues” means the gross amount or value of other consideration to be received by the monitor in connection with the exploitation of the fixation or reproduction of all programs or communication signals or the provision of any related good or service, excluding applicable taxes as well as the actual out-of-pocket cost for recording media, their labelling and delivery charges.

(2) Subsections (3) to (8) apply in a year to a monitor that, no later than January 31 of that year, delivers to the CBRA a statement certified as accurate and signed by a senior officer of the monitor that, in the officer’s good faith view, the monitor’s total media monitoring revenues for that year shall be less than $100,000 and that the monitor wishes to avail itself of section 25 of this tariff.

(3) Notwithstanding section 14, a monitor that complied with subsection (2) shall pay royalties on a quarterly basis.

(4) A monitor that complied with subsection (2) shall provide the information set out in paragraph 15(1)(f) only if the monitor has that information and all other information set out in subsection 15(1) on a quarterly basis.

(5) Paragraph 18(1)(c) does not apply to a monitor that has complied with subsection (2).

(6) As soon as its total media monitoring revenues exceed $100,000 in the relevant year, a monitor that has complied with subsection (2) shall notify the CBRA of this occurrence. That monitor shall not be entitled to avail itself of this section for the rest of the relevant year and shall instead comply with the other provisions of this tariff.

(7) A monitor that has complied with subsection (2) and that has not delivered a notice pursuant to subsection (6) shall deliver to the CBRA, on or before January 31 of the next year, a statement certified as accurate and signed by a senior officer of the monitor setting out the monitor’s total media monitoring revenues for the relevant year.

(8) A monitor that complied with subsection (2) and whose total media monitoring revenues for the relevant year exceeded $100,000 may not avail itself again of subsection (2) without the written authorization of the CBRA.

GENERAL

Indemnity

26. (1) A monitor shall defend, indemnify and hold harmless the CBRA, CBRA broadcasters and their respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, successors, licensees and assigns from and against any claim, demand, loss, liability, cost, damage or expense including, without limitation, reasonable legal fees that they may incur if

• (a) the monitor breaches any provision of this tariff;
• (b) the monitor does any act protected by copyright that is not authorized by this tariff;
• (c) the monitor sells, rents or otherwise deals in a CBRA item after having received a notice pursuant to section 12; or
• (d) a monitor’s customer breaches any condition set out in subsection 10(2).

(2) A monitor’s obligations pursuant to subsection (1) are not affected by the right of approval granted to the CBRA pursuant to paragraph 7(2)(g).

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the CBRA or the relevant CBRA broadcaster may avail itself of any recourse it may have against a customer who breaches any condition set out in subsection 10(2).

27. The CBRA shall defend, indemnify and hold harmless the monitor, its shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, successors, licensees and assigns from and against any claim, demand, loss, liability, cost, damage or expense including, without limitation, reasonable legal fees that they may suffer or incur by reason of a failure by the CBRA to comply with this tariff or of an inaccuracy in the information supplied pursuant to section 17.

Default

28. (1) A monitor whose royalties the CBRA has not received within five business days of the date the royalties are due pursuant to subsection 14(2) or 25(3) is not entitled to do any of the acts described in sections 3 to 8 as of the first day of the month or quarter in respect of which the royalties should have been paid until the monitor pays the royalties and the accrued interest.

(2) A monitor that fails to comply with any other provision of this tariff is not entitled to do any of the acts described in sections 3 to 8 as of five business days after the CBRA has notified the monitor in writing of that failure and until the monitor remedies that failure.

(3) A monitor that becomes insolvent, commits an act of bankruptcy, makes an assignment for the benefit of its creditors, files for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, winds up its affairs, ceases to carry on business or has a receiver-manager appointed for it or for a substantial part of its property is not entitled to do any of the acts described in sections 3 to 8 as of the day immediately preceding the day of the relevant occurrence.