OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The Canadian broadcasting distribution sector recorded revenues in excess of $10 billion in 2008, the CRTC has tabulated.
The Commission released its annual report summarizing the statistical and financial summaries for Canadian BDUs Thursday, noting that the revenues in this sector “have climbed steadily over the past five years”.
Total revenues for cable companies rose 16.1% from $7.10 billion in 2007 to reach $8.24 billion in 2008, while the number of Canadian households that obtained basic-television service from a cable company totaled 7.9 million subscribers, an increase of 2.9% from the previous year.
During the same period, cable’s profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) went from $1.5 billion to $2.1 billion. While expenditures increased by 7.8%, the PBIT margin improved from 21.2% in 2007 to 25.3% in 2008.
Total revenues for direct-to-home (DTH) satellite distribution and multipoint distribution system (MDS) companies increased by 10.8% between 2007 and 2008, or from $1.85 billion to $2.05 billion. The number of subscribers to basic service rose by 2.6% in one year to top 2.7 million.
The PBIT for these companies continued the upward trend that began in 2007. After posting a PBIT of $17.1 million in 2007, this figure jumped to $81.4 million in 2008. Similarly, the PBIT margin improved over the same period, rising from 0.9% to 4%.
BDUs contributed $323 million to Canadian programming in 2008, an increase of 7.9% in one year. Of this total, $166.3 million was directed to the Canadian Television Fund, $41.2 million to independent funds and $115.6 million to "local expression", such as community cable channels.
In 2008, cable companies paid $1.56 billion to their affiliates, including pay and specialty services, an increase of 10.8% over the $1.40 billion paid in 2007. For their part, DTH and MDS companies paid $740.8 million to their affiliates, an increase of 6.3% from the $696.6 million they paid in 2007.
The data compiled in this report were drawn from the annual reports of Canadian broadcasting distribution companies.
