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CRTC's second annual Communications Monitoring Report revealed that broadcasting revenues were up $900 million, or 7.3%, and totalled $14 billion for the twelve-month period that ended on August 31, 2008. The delivery of television services showed the highest growth with revenues going from $6.3 billion to $7 billion in one year. According to Statistics Canada, the cable and satellite services index increased twice as much as the consumer price index between 2002 and 2007, or by 22.7% compared to 11.4%.
The amount of time Canadians spend online increased in 2008. Anglophones spent 13.8 hours online per week, up from 13.4 hours in 2007, while francophones spent 11.1 hours online, up from 9.8 hours. Eighteen per cent of anglophones and 16% of francophones reported viewing a television program online.
In 2008, the broadcasting industry contributed more than $2.8 billion to the development of Canadian talent and to the creation and broadcast of Canadian programming.
Highlights
Television
- In 2008, Canadians could choose from 707 television services, which consisted of 453 English-language services, 125 French-language services and 129 services in other languages.
- Canadians watched an average of 26.6 hours of television per week, which represented a slight decline from 26.8 hours in 2007. Canadian television services attracted 98.5% of the French-language viewing audience in Quebec and 75.3% of the viewing audience in the rest of the country.
- Revenues for commercial television services increased by 4%, from $5.3 billion in 2007 to $5.5 billion in 2008.
- Private conventional television broadcasters saw their revenues decrease by 1.5%, from $2.17 billion in 2007 to $2.14 billion in 2008. Reversing a trend from a year earlier, revenues for English-language stations fell by 2% to $1.7 billion, while those for French-language stations grew by 1% to $384 million.
- Specialty, pay and pay-per-view television and video-on-demand services generated $2.9 billion in revenues in 2008, an increase of 8% from $2.7 billion in 2007.
- In 2008, private conventional television broadcasters invested $619.6 million on Canadian programming, which was marginally higher than the $616 million spent in 2007. During the same period, spending by specialty and pay television services on Canadian programming increased from $918.6 million to $1 billion.
Broadcasting distribution
- In 2008, 8.4 million Canadian households subscribed to cable services and 2.7 million subscribed to satellite services. Of the total number of subscribers, 6.8 million, or 61.6%, received digital television services.
- Revenues generated from the distribution of programming improved by 10.2%, climbing from $6.3 billion in 2007 to $7 billion in 2008.
- On average, subscribers paid $3.57 more per month in 2008, an increase of 7.2% over the previous year. This increase can be explained by higher monthly fees, a greater consumption of pay and pay-per-view services, and consumers upgrading to digital or high-definition television services.
- The cable and satellite services (including pay television) index, as calculated by Statistics Canada, increased by 6% between 2007 and 2008.
- In 2008, broadcasting distribution companies contributed $323 million to Canadian programming, including programming for community channels. These companies allocated $299.2 million for the same purpose in 2007.
New media broadcasting
- The amount of time Canadians spend online increased again in 2008. Anglophones spent 13.8 hours online per week, up from 13.4 hours in 2007, while francophones spent 11.1 hours online, up from 9.8 hours.
- Eighteen per cent of anglophones and 16% of francophones reported watching a television program or a clip from a television program online.
Source: CRTC, 08/05/2009
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