May 15, 2014 – Ottawa-Gatineau – Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today released statistical and financial information on Canadian broadcasting distribution companies for the broadcast year that ended August 31, 2013.
In the last year, cable companies reported some growth in their revenues and numbers of subscribers, while satellite companies recorded a decrease in both categories. The combined revenues of these companies increased by 4.8% from $14.1 billion in 2012 to $14.8 billion in 2013, and their total number of employees was 31,687.
Cable companies reported a total of 8.8 million subscribers in 2013, an increase of 1.5%, while satellite companies recorded a 4.8% decrease and a total of 2.7 million subscribers in 2013. The total number of subscribers for these companies remained relatively stable at 11.5 million.
In 2013, broadcasting distribution companies spent $477.7 million on the development of Canadian content, a 5.6% decrease compared to the previous year. Of this amount, $216 million was directed to the Canadian Media Fund, $61 million to independent funds, $75 million to the Local Programming Improvement Fund and $125 million to cable-based community channels and other sources of local content.
Every year, the CRTC compiles financial information on the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors in order to produce a series of reports. The CRTC’s report on Canadian broadcasting distribution companies includes information on non-programming services, such as Internet access and telephone services.
The CRTC has already released similar reports on specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand services and on Canadian local television stations. The CRTC will release its report on AM and FM radio services shortly. Following the publication of these reports, the CRTC will release its annual edition of the Communications Monitoring Report, which provides an overview of Canada’s broadcasting and telecommunications sectors.
These annual reports allow interested parties to keep up to date on the situation in the Canadian communications industry and help them participate in the CRTC’s public consultations.
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