Canadian TV growth is slowest in eight years; no hockey dragged results down

OTTAWA - The revenues of the conventional television broadcasting industry edged up just 0.6% in 2005, well below the average growth of 2.3% over the past five years, says a report by Statistics Canada released today. It was a particularly difficult year for public television broadcasters, whose revenues slumped 5.2% to $1.2 billion, mainly because of a 25.2% drop in air time sales. The cancellation of the National Hockey League season accounted for much of the decline in advertising revenue, says the report. The operating revenues of the television broadcasting sector totaled $5.6 billion in 2005, up 2.8% from 2004....