OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s television service providers saw their overall revenues dip 0.1% in 2015 amidst a continuing erosion of subscribers, according to the CRTC’s statistical and financial results for the industry released Tuesday.
Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings – Statistical and Financial Summaries 2011-2015 said that combined revenues remained steady at $8.9 billion, while subscribers fell from 11.4 million in 2014 to 11.2 million for the year ended August 31, 2015. Total expenses increased by 1.3% to $7.2 billion, and as a result, the sector's operating margin decreased to its lowest level in five years, but remained healthy at 19%.
Despite these declines in subscribers and revenues, the average total revenue per subscriber increased from $65.25 in 2014 to $66.08 per month in 2015. Combined, cable IPTV and satellite companies employed 27,244 individuals in 2015, down 6.3% from the prior year, the first decrease in employment in this sector since 2009.
The revenues of cable and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service providers increased by a combined 1.7% from $6.5 billion in 2014 to $6.6 billion in 2015, while the number of subscribers increased 0.3% to 8.9 million. Since 2011, these companies have increased their share of the subscriber market from 74.8% to 78.9%.
Satellite companies’ revenues dropped 5.2% from $2.4 billion in 2014 to $2.3 billion in 2015, while the number of television service subscribers fell by 7.2% from 2.6 million to 2.4 million. Since 2011, these companies have decreased their share of the subscriber market to 21.1%, but nonetheless garnered 25.7% of all cable, IPTV and satellite companies’ revenues.
Spending on the creation and production of Canadian-made content decreased by $38.1 million year-over-year to $436.9 million in 2015, continues the report. Of this amount, $219.6 million was directed to the Canada Media Fund, $64.7 million to independent funds and $152.6 million to community channels and other sources of local content.
Consistent with last year’s report, the CRTC excluded information on Internet access, telephone services and other non-programming items from its report on cable, IPTV and satellite companies, and will publish information on these services in a separate report this fall.
Cable and IPTV companies
– The operating margin for cable and IPTV companies increased from 15.8% in 2014 to 16.1% in 2015;
– In 2015, cable and IPTV companies’ average total revenue per subscriber was $62.27 per month, an increase of 7.4% ($4.30 per month) since 2011;
– Cable and IPTV companies spent over $2.6 billion on affiliation payments for the pay and specialty services they carry in 2015, up 5.7% compared to the $2.5 billion spent in 2014.
Satellite companies
– The operating margin for the satellite companies decreased from 32% in 2014 to 27.7% in 2015;
– In 2015, satellite companies’ average total revenue per subscriber was $80.29 per month, up 9.5% ($6.96 per month) since 2011;
– Satellite companies’ affiliation payments decreased by 2.9% from $809 million in 2014 to $786 million in 2015.
