Conventional television in Canada continues to struggle, with revenues and viewership both on a downward trajectory, according to recent data from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Blacklock's Reporter says last year, English-language TV revenues fell by 7%, from $1.2 billion to $1.1 billion.“Conventional television continued to operate at a loss in 2023,” stated the CRTC's report Annual Highlights Of The Broadcasting Sector. The industry recorded a profit margin of negative 30.5% before interest and taxes, reflecting the ongoing financial challenges faced by traditional TV networks.Viewership has also been on a steady decline. The report noted that the number of hours Canadians spend watching television has dropped by 28% over the past decade.These figures align with previous warnings from the country’s largest private networks. Bell Media, which operates the CTV network, highlighted the dire situation in a 2022 submission to the Senate transport and communications committee, noting that local stations had not been profitable for years.“Local media in Canada is in crisis,” Bell wrote, pointing out that combined annual advertising revenues for local television and radio stations had dropped by approximately $700 million between 2010 and 2019. “In fact, local private television has been unprofitable every year since 2013, with a cumulative pre-tax loss of nearly $1.5 billion by the end of broadcast year 2021,” Bell management added.Corus Entertainment Inc., which operates the Global network, echoed these concerns, declaring in 2022 that the industry was “on the brink,” despite receiving $103.6 million in pandemic relief payments. “Our ability to provide local, fact-based news in large parts of the country, in small markets, in places like the English-language minority community in Montréal, it all teeters on the brink,” testified Troy Reeb, executive vice president at Corus, before the Senate committee. “The status quo is not sustainable,” he added, warning that “the future of an entire Canadian industry is hanging in the balance.”The CRTC had already forecasted this decline in a 2022 report, giving the industry three years to either adapt or fail. “The next three years will determine whether the Canadian broadcasting system survives,” said the report The State Of The Canadian Program Rights Market. It highlighted that online advertising revenue surpassed TV ad sales for the first time in 2013, further eroding the financial foundation of traditional media.The report also suggested that if a strong private Canadian broadcasting sector is considered to be in the public interest, new structural measures should be implemented to incentivize and prioritize Canadian content without restricting the entry of foreign services.
