Canada’s private broadcasters enjoyed a successful year in terms of revenues and profits in 2010, after flopping during the recession.
The CRTC says revenues for private conventional television rose by 9% to $2.15 billion for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2010.
As a result, profits before interest and taxes improved to $11.5 million from the previous term’s $116.6 million loss.
It was also a good year for the CBC, which saw its ad revenue grow by 14.1% to $338.8 million. The national broadcasters also receives funding from the federal government.
The report from Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission shows revenues and profits improving across the industry.
Revenues for pay and specialty services grew by 11.1% to $3.46 billion, with profits up 25.4% to $877.3 million.
The CRTC says conventional broadcasters derived the lion’s share of their revenues from national advertising, which brought in $1.6 billion, followed by local ads, $350 million.
Subscriptions on cable, which amounted to $1.58 billion, represented the biggest source of revenue for pay and specialty services, followed by national ads, which were worth $1.09 billion.
The federal regulator also noted that after stagnating in the 2009 fiscal year, investment in Canadian programs picked up by 12.6 per cent for private conventional TV and 8.8 per cent for pay and specialty services.
Despite the improved performance, the CRTC noted the private sector of the industry employed 11,761 people last year, a drop of about 6.3%.
