Canadians watch TV and use Internet more, listen to radio less: CRTC
TORONTO (CP) – Canadians are watching a bit more television, listening to a bit less radio and accessing the Internet in record numbers.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission released its annual broadcast monitoring report Friday. In addition to detailing the radio and TV habits of Canadians, this year’s report also includes data on the growing field of handheld technologies.
In 2005, 59 per cent of Canadians used cellphones, 16 per cent used an iPod or other MP3 player, eight per cent used a webcam, seven per cent used a personal digital assistant (PDA) and three per cent used a BlackBerry.
Canadians listened to the radio for an average of 19.1 hours per week in 2005, down slightly from 19.5 the year before.
They watched an average of 25.1 hours of TV each week in 2005, up a bit from 24.7 in 2004.
The diversity of Canada is also reflected in the CRTC’s data. There are 659 television services in the country, and 13 per cent of them are third-language services, neither French nor English.
In terms of Internet and computer access, 74 per cent of Canadian homes had a computer, and 78 per cent of Canadians accessed the Internet in 2005.
In 2004, 71 per cent of Canadian homes had a computer and 76 per cent of Canadians accessed the Internet.
Still quite limited, however, is the number of Canadians that access the Internet from their cellphones or wireless devices, or use them for services other than their main purpose.
Of the people who own a cellphone, BlackBerry or PDA, seven per cent use it to get news or weather information, four per cent use it to get sports scores, three per cent use it to take pictures or make videos and two per cent use it to watch TV.
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