News release

December 14^th, 2004

The CRTC releases its annual Broadcasting
Policy Monitoring Report

OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has released today the fifth edition of its Broadcasting Policy Monitoring Report. The report provides an on-going assessment of the Canadian broadcasting system. It presents a wide range of information on television, radio, broadcasting signal distribution, social issues and the Internet.

What’s new in 2004?

The 2004 edition offers an update on performance indicators and continues to measure the performance of the Canadian broadcasting system. In addition, there are new measures in regard to the viewing of Canadian programming using metered data.

The following sets out a few highlights of the report:

Television

• Canadians have an impressive choice of television services, with 550 Canadian services and 107 non-Canadian services.
• According to Nielsen Media Research metered data, dramas and comedies remain the most popular television programs, attracting 44% of the average English-language weekly viewing hours over the 2002-03 broadcast year and 43% of the average weekly viewing hours for those watching in French. 14% of the viewing of English-language drama was to Canadian drama, while 32% of the viewing of French-language drama was to Canadian drama.
• According to the BBM Fall 2003 survey, Canadians are watching an average of 21.7 hours of television per week. Nielsen pegs the weekly average at 26.1 hours.
• Revenues for conventional private television stations increased by over 10% in 2003, to 2.1 billion dollars. Pay, pay-per-view and specialty services had revenues of 1.9 billion dollars in 2003, an increase of over 10%.
• There are presently 11 transitional digital television stations, located in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver.
• The current Canadian ethnic television landscape includes 4 over-the-air television stations, 5 analog specialty services, 21 launched Category 2 digital pay and specialty services and 30 Category 2 services that have yet to be launched. To complement these services, the Commission has authorized the distribution of 19 third-language foreign services.

Radio

• Canada has 1,139 radio services, including 17 ethnic radio stations, and 16 audio services distributed by broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDU), including 2 pay audio services and 14 specialty audio services targeting 8 ethnic communities and 2 Christian communities.
• The number of transitional digital radio (TDR) undertakings authorized in Canada has increased from 56 in 2003 to 76 in 2004.
• On average, Canadians listened to 19.5 hours of radio per week in 2003, a little less than the 20.2 hours in 2002. Weekly listening levels by teens between 12 and 17 years of age declined to an average of 8.5 hours.
• Revenues for commercial radio stations reached 1.189 billion dollars in 2003, an increase of 8% over the previous year. The profit margin before interest and taxes of commercial radio increased to 19.3% in 2003.
• Since the introduction of the Commercial Radio Policy, the industry has contributed over $150 million to the development of Canadian talent.

Broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDU)

• There are currently 1,985 cable companies, 2 Direct-to-Home satellite distribution undertakings (DTH), 29 multipoint distribution systems (MDS) and 12 subscription television systems (STV) in this country.
• In 2003, cable garnered 76% of basic service subscriptions; DTH, 24%; and MDS and STV combined, 0.6%. DTH subscribers rose to 2.2 million, an increase of 9.8% over the previous year.
• Contributions to the Canadian Television Fund and other programming funds from BDUs increased to $129 million in 2003.
• Revenues for Canadian cable undertakings rose to $4.2 billion in 2003, up 7.7%, while those of DTH, MDS and STV combined hit $1.2 billion, representing growth of 27.2% over the previous year. Total revenues for the BDU industry were 5.4 billion dollars.
• In June 2004, 4.3 million subscribers to BDUs were receiving digital services, 19% more than in June 2003.

Internet

• 68% of Canadian households owned a computer in 2004, compared with 64% in 2003.
• In March 2004, 76% of Canadians had access to the Internet either at home, school, work, through wireless devices, Internet cafes, libraries or other locations, compared with 68% in 2003. They connect to the Internet an average of 16 times per week, for a total of 16 hours.
• Subscriptions to high speed Internet rose sharply, going from 50% of subscriptions in 2003 to 61% in 2004.

Future editions

In order to provide more timely reporting and as a result of improvements to internal databases, the Commission will issue future editions of the Broadcasting Policy Monitoring Report in the spring of each year, commencing in 2005.

Background

The Commission releases this report in order to provide an on-going assessment of the impact of CRTC regulations, policies and decisions towards the achievement of the objectives of the Broadcasting Act. It hopes that this report will promote public debate on broadcasting policy, and that it will encourage public participation in CRTC processes.

The Commission welcomes suggestions for improving future editions of this report. You may address your comments to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2 or e-mail us at info@crtc.gc.ca.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is an independent public authority that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.

Reference document: Broadcasting Policy Monitoring Report 2004 [.htm][.pdf]

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Media Relations:
   MediaRelations@crtc.gc.ca, Tel: (819) 997-9403, Fax: (819) 997-4245

General Inquiries:
   Tel: (819) 997-0313, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 994-0218
   Toll-free # 1-877-249-CRTC (2782), eMail: info@crtc.gc.ca
   TDD - Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782

Copies of today’s documents are available through our Internet site (http://www.crtc.gc.ca) or by contacting the public examination room of any CRTC office. These documents are available in alternative format upon request.

Date Modified: 2004-12-14

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