OTA revenues continue to fall: CRTC

Private conventional TV station revenues fell another 2.6 per cent in 2015, continuing a five-year downward trend, according to new data released Wednesday by the CRTC. The 93 over-the-air (OTA) stations brought in $1.76 billion in the year ending Aug. 31, 2015, down from $1.8 billion in 2014, said the CRTC’s annual report on conventional television stations’ financial results, adding that total revenues have fallen 17.9 per cent ($381.9 million) between 2011 and 2015. And while advertising revenues have “experienced a sharp decline since 2011,” the CRTC said they were “relatively unchanged” in 2015, compared to the previous year. Local advertising dollars fell 1.03 per cent in 2015, while national ad sales were only 0.19 per cent less than in 2014. Atlantic Canada stations actually saw an increase to their national ad dollars, rising 7.72 per cent, as did Prairie stations, which experienced a 5.03 per cent increase in national advertising revenue. But the same couldn’t be said for CBC/Radio-Canada, which saw its 27 conventional TV stations experience a 53.64-per-cent dip in advertising dollars, contributing to an overall $220.9-million (16.6 per cent) drop in revenue in 2015. The advertising drop off for the CBC was particularly noticeable following a 43.34 per cent increase in 2014. “This is in part linked to the loss of the National Hockey League TV rights, combined with the absence of major sports events — namely the Olympics and FIFA World Cup — that generated additional advertising revenues in 2014,” the CRTC said. Ad revenue at Ontario CBC stations was the hardest hit, dropping 72.76 per cent, followed by British Columbia and territorial stations, which had a 30.93-per-cent drop in 2015. The CRTC’s data showed that where private stations felt the bigger pinch was with the elimination of the Local Programming Improvement Fund, which eliminated $21.7 million from OTA budgets in 2015 and a $13.6-million reduction in “other revenues,” which the CRTC described as “retransmission and Broadcasting Distribution Undertaking royalties, co-production sponsorship and donations.” Despite expenses also declining 1.57 per cent in 2015, “private conventional stations were unprofitable in 2015,” the CRTC said. But money is continuing to be spent on Canadian programming, the CRTC said in a press release, adding that investments “have grown consistently over the last five years as conventional television stations spent 16 per cent more in 2015 than in 2011.” Private OTA stations spent $652.8 million in 2015 on Canadian programming, while the CBC spent $557.2 million on Canadian content. The CRTC “requires most television broadcasters to spend a minimum percentage of their revenues on content made by Canadians,” the regulator said. Spending on Canadian programming as a percentage of total program expenses also increased to 49.9 per cent in 2015, up from 46.3 per cent in 2014 and 43.6 per cent in 2011. According to the CRTC, conventional television stations employed 10,995 people in 2015, with the CBC employing 5,205 people, amounting to reductions of 172 people and 638 people, respectively, from the previous year. — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

OTA revenues continue to fall: CRTC

News | May 4, 2016

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OTA revenues continue to fall: CRTC

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