CRTC issues annual report on private television stations
By Adnews Staff
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has released its annual report on the financial status of Canadian conventional private television stations. According to the report, from 2004 to 2005, total revenue and profit before interest and taxes for these stations was $2.2 billion and $242.2 million respectively. This represents an increase of approximately 4%. National advertising revenues at these stations rose approximately 5% to $1.5 billion. Local time sales decreased by 1.1% to $362.9 million. Operating expenses increased by 4.3% from 2004 to $1.9 billion in 2005. Of that total, $1.3 billion was spent on programming, including $587 million for Canadian programs. Spending on Canadian programs included $86.6 million for drama, $310.2 million for news programs, $59.4 million for other information programs, $83.1 million for general interest programming and $29.2 million for musical and variety shows. The report was produced using the financial summaries of private Canadian television undertakings, along with data from the CBC's financial summaries.