Categories
Television

Had radio killed the TV star?

Canadians watching less television: CRTC
Canadians are watching less television, but what they do watch is increasingly from Canadian broadcasters, according to a new report from the CRTC.
The study, released Wednesday, contains numbers from Nielsen Media Research and the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, which both monitor the habits of this country’s TV viewers.
While the two organizations differ on how many hours the average Canadian watches every week ñ Nielsen says 25.8, BBM 21.4 ñ they agree that viewing went down in 2004 when compared to 2003.
The average viewer watched about 20 fewer minutes of TV, roughly the length of one sitcom.
The good news for the TV industry is that even though people are watching less TV, more of what they watch is broadcast from Canada.
Outside Quebec, the audience share for Canadian stations increased to nearly 72 per cent in 2004 from 67 per cent in 1993.
In Quebec, meanwhile, audience share for domestic broadcasters went up to 90 per cent in 2004 from 88 per cent in 1993.
The survey, called the Broadcasting Monitoring Policy Report, also shows that dramas and comedies are the most popular forms of programming, accounting for 43 per cent of all viewing.
In addition, the study found that the total revenues of English-language specialty, pay and pay-per-view channels were nearly $1.7 billion √± equal to the total revenues of conventional English-language networks. That’s the first time specialty numbers have been on par with regular broadcasters.
According to the report, Canadians have access to 679 TV outlets ñ 511 English-language services, 115 French, and 53 third-language services.
The CRTC √± the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission √± is Canada’s federal broadcast regulator.