OTTAWA – For the first time ever, the amount of revenue earned by Canadian pay and specialty services has pulled even that earned by conventional broadcasters in fiscal 2005.
According to the CRTC’s annual Broadcasting Monitoring Report, total revenues for English-language private conventional services in 2005 were $1.764 billion, nearly the same as the $1.761 billion brought in by Canadian specialty and pay channels. In 2004, their revenues were $1.693 and $1.637 billion respectively.
Where specialty really has convention beat is in the margins. Conventional stations saw their profit before interest and taxes margins in 2005 hit 11% where for pay, specialty and pay-per-view services, PBIT was 26%.
French pay and specialty channels still lag well behind the Quebec-based broadcasters. Revenues for French- language private conventional television rose to $434 million in 2005, up from $422 million in 2004, while the top line for French pay and specialty services totaled $368 million, a slight increase from $363 million in 2004. They recorded PBIT margins of 11% for conventional and 25% for pay, specialty and pay-per-view services.
Revenues for ethnic and third-language pay and specialty services, meanwhile, increased from $51 million in 2004 to $57 million in 2005, and their PBIT margin was 24% in 2005.
Besides these figures, the 2006 edition of the report says how many high definition (HD) services are currently being offered by Canadian broadcast distribution undertakings (BDU), as well as the number of hours of HD programming that television services are making available to Canadians per week. New data is also available on use of new technologies such as iPods, MP3 players and other hand held devices, and on spending by pay and specialty services in each category of programming. For example, says the press release, $162.5 million – 22% – of the Canadian programming expenditures reported by these services was on drama and comedy programming.
The following are some of the data contained in the report:
Radio
* Canadians have access to 1,223 radio services, of which 913 are English-language services, 275 are French-language services and 35 are third-language services. Over the course of 2005, the CRTC approved 44 new AM and FM stations.
* In 2005, Canadians listened to radio an average of 19.1 hours per week, which is about the same as in 2004, when average listening time was 19.5 hours.
* Revenues for Canadian commercial radio stations increased by 9% in 2005, coming in at $1.3 billion, while profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) increased by 24% to $277 million.
* From 2001 to 2005, Canadian radio stations paid out $78.1 million to promote Canadian artists.
Television
* There are 659 television services in Canada, of which 467 are English- language services, 106 are French-language services, and 86 are third- language services.
* As well, the number of Canadian and non-Canadian third-language television services has increased in the past year from 53 to 86.
* In 2005, BDUs provided Canadian viewers with access to up to 16 Canadian HD services and 11 foreign HD services. Conventional Canadian television offered an average of 38 hours of Canadian HD programming per week, while pay and specialty services offered 216.
* In 2004-2005, the average weekly viewing hours per capita were 25.1 hours while in 2003-2004, viewership was 24.7 hours.
* Canadian television services garnered 79.9% of total television audience in 2005, compared with 78.4% in 2004 and 76% in 2003.
Dramas and comedies remain the most popular shows on Canadian television. For English-language Canadian television services, Canadian dramas and comedies capture, on average, 23% of audiences for this type of programming. This breaks down to 10% for private conventional services, 35% for CBC conventional services, and 31% for pay and specialty services. As for French-language television, Canadian dramas and comedies capture an average of 35% of audiences for such programming.
This breaks down to 26% for private conventional stations, 58% for SRC conventional stations, and 34% for pay and specialty services.
Distribution
* There are 2,003 BDUs in Canada, of which 1,963 are cable undertakings, 2 are direct-to-home (DTH) satellite distribution undertakings, 27 are multipoint distribution systems (MDS) and 11 are subscription television systems (STV).
* In 2005, Class 1 cable companies accounted for 72.7% of the total basic service subscriptions for Class 1 cable, DTH, MDS and STV services combined. DTH had 27%, and MDS and STV had 0.4%.
* Class 1 cable revenues reached $4.6 billion in 2005, and those for DTH, MDS and STV came in at $1.5 billion.
* From September 2004 to 2005, the number of digital subscribers rose from 4.5 to 5.3 million, an increase of 19%.
* In 2005, cable companies paid out $81 million to the Canadian Television Fund and other production funds, and DTH, MDS and Satellite Relay Distribution Undertakings contributed $71 million to these funds. Class 1 cable distributors also spent $89.1 million for their community channels.
New media
* The percentage of Canadian households with a computer rose from 71 to 74% between 2004 and 2005.
* 78% of Canadians accessed the Internet in 2005, compared with 76% in 2004.
* In December 2005, 59% of Canadians used cellular telephones, 3% used a Blackberry, 7% used digital assistants, 12% an MP3 player, 4% iPod and 8% a Web camera.
* 2% of cell phone, Blackberry and PDA owners used these devices for watching television, 3% for taking pictures or making videos, 7% to obtain news or weather, and 4% to get sports scores.
