Communications

 

Monitoring Report Communications Monitoring Report

Link directly to Highlights of the Broadcasting Sector Highlights of the Broadcasting Sector

Link directly to On this page On this page

1. Revenues and financial performance
2. Industry characteristics
   • Sector composition
3. Contributions to Canadian content
4. Internet-based audio and television services estimated revenues
5. Spotlight: Commercial radio
   • Market composition
   • Formats
6. Spotlight: CBC/SRC
   • CBC/SRC Radio
   • CBC/SRC Conventional television
7. Datasets available on Open Data
8. Methodology
   • CRTC data collection
   • Media Technology Monitor (MTM)
   • Omdia (formerly, Ovum)
   • Numeris
   • Definitions

This overview of the broadcasting sector provides a glimpse into various aspects of broadcasting in Canada. The data in this report covers the broadcast period 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2019 and therefore, excludes any impacts resulting from COVID-19. For the purposes of this report, total broadcasting revenues include revenues from:

• private commercial and CBC/SRC radio services, including Parliamentary appropriations;
• private commercial and CBC/SRC conventional television services;
• discretionary and on-demand (pay-per-view [PPV] and video-on-demand [VOD]) services; and
• BDUs^{Footnote 1}, such as cable, satellite and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) distributors.

Other Internet-based service revenues and services that operate under the Digital Media Exemption Order (e.g., Netflix and telecommunications service revenues such as Internet access or telephony) are excluded from total broadcasting revenues.

In 2019, broadcasting services revenues totalled $16.9 billion, a 1.4% decrease compared to 2018, and contributed approximately $3.3 billion (20% of total revenues) to Canadian radio and television content via their respective funding mechanisms. Out of the $2.9 billion spent on Canadian television programing expenditures (CPE), expenditures on news reached $736 million (or 26% of television CPE). (See the Television figures and tables on Open Data for more information.)

BDUs generated almost half of 2019 total broadcasting revenues, reporting $8.4 billion, followed by television services with $6.7 billion, and radio stations with $1.8 billion.

In comparison, Internet-based audio and video services were estimated to have generated revenues of $5.0 billion in Canada^{Footnote 2}, approximately 30% of the revenues of the traditional broadcasting services.

Link directly to i. Revenues and financial performance i. Revenues and financial performance

In 2019, television distribution via cable continued to generate the most revenues at $4.4 billion and reported strong profitability with an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 17.6%. Although they have generated the most revenue, cable distribution services have seen a slow but constant decline in the past years (-2.1% compared to 2018 and -3.6% on average every year since 2015).

In regard to television services, discretionary services generated the most revenues at $4.0 billion and reported a profit before interest and taxes (PBIT) of 26.0%. The PBIT for private conventional television stations remained negative (-7.0%) in 2019. However, they did exhibit a positive, albeit modest 0.8%, year over year revenue growth for the first time since 2009. IPTV was the only other service showing positive growth in revenues.

The majority of radio revenues came from commercial services (82%), which include both AM and FM radio stations broadcasting in French, English, Indigenous and third languages. Although radio revenues have been declining, 88%^{Footnote 3} of Canadians, on average, still listen to traditional radio each month.

Consistent with previous years, the majority of television revenues came from discretionary services (59%), which relied on subscriber revenues to generate most (65%) of their earnings. Interestingly, advertising-based revenues, in particular national time sales, exhibited growth among discretionary services. Advertising sales for discretionary services grew 2.2% compared to 2018, and 1.2% on average per year, since 2015.

Finally, among BDUs, IPTV still leads in terms of growth, reporting revenue growth of 4.1% from 2018 to 2019 (2014-2019 compound annual growth rate [CAGR] of 8.4%), while DTH services were still the most profitable distribution services, reporting a 28.1% EBITDA in 2019.

In terms of the regional distribution of revenues, the most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, lead with 38% and 26% of broadcasting revenues in 2019, respectively, while according to the 2016 Census^{Footnote 4}, their population represented 39% and 23%, respectively, of the Canadian population.

Link directly to ii. Industry characteristics ii. Industry characteristics

Long description

2019 Total broadcasting revenues: $16.9 B (growth: -1.4% [2018-2019]; 2018: $17.1 B)

• Top 5 entities (BCE, Corus/Shaw, Rogers, CBC/SRC, and Québecor): 81% or $13.6 billion
• 64% of revenues are generated by 3 ownership groups (BCE, Corus/Shaw, Rogers) that operate in all 4 broadcasting sectors (Radio, conventional television, discretionary television, and BDU)
• 10% of revenues are generated by 170 ownership groups that operate in only 1 of the 4 broadcasting sectors^{Footnote 5}
• 64% of total commercial radio revenues were reported by 5 largest commercial radio broadcasters (BCE, Rogers, Stingray, Corus, Cogeco)
• 91% of total television revenues were reported by the 6 largest television broadcasters (BCE, Corus, CBC/SRC, Rogers, Québecor, Groupe V Média)

Source: CRTC data collection

In 2019, as in previous years, the broadcasting industry was largely dominated by a small number of entities. Together, the top 5 entities generated approximately 81% of total broadcasting revenues ($13.6 billion). There were three entities (BCE, Corus/Shaw, Rogers) operating radio stations, conventional television stations, discretionary or on-demand services and BDUs that generated 64% of broadcasting revenues, in 2019. Entities operating only one type of these services accounted for 10% of total broadcasting revenues.

Link directly to Sector composition Sector composition

Long description

2019	BCE	Corus/Shaw	Rogers	CBC/SRC	Québecor	Total for Top 5
# of sectors in which companies offer service	4	4	4	3	3	4
Revenues	$4,985.9 M	$3,167.4 M	$2,613.7 M	$1,418.8 M	$1,405.6 M	$13,591.4 M
Share of total broadcasting revenues	29.6%	18.8%	15.5%	8.4%	8.3%	80.6%
Contributions to Canadian content	$ 972.4 M	$437.3 M	$596.8 M	$601.4 M	$303.4 M	$2,911.3 M
Share of the total contributions	29.1%	13.1%	17.8%	18.0%	9.1%	87.1%

Source: Public disclosure of aggregate annual returns for large ownership groups.

The number of sectors in which companies offer service refers to the four sectors of the broadcasting communications industry: radio, conventional television, discretionary and on-demand, and broadcasting distribution.

Link directly to iii. Contributions to Canadian content iii. Contributions to Canadian content

Commercial radio stations typically contribute to CCD initiatives to support the development and promotion of Canadian musical and spoken word content for broadcast. Television services contribute portions of their broadcasting revenues to CPE. BDUs contribute a portion of their annual broadcasting-related revenues to the creation and production of Canadian programming, ranging from contributions to production funds to contributions to locally reflective news and community programming.

Long description

• Radio (CCD): $46 M
• Television (CPE): $2.9 B
• BDU: $413 M
• Total contributions to Canadian content: $3.3 B

Source: CRTC data collection, 2019 broadcasting year

Television CPE include expenditures from private conventional television, CBC conventional television, other (public and not-for-profit) conventional television, discretionary services, and on-demand services.

In 2019, broadcasters contributed a total of $3.3 billion towards Canadian content (a 3.9% decline from 2018). CPE represented the vast majority (86%) of those contributions, followed by BDU contributions (12%) and CCD contributions (1%). Although total broadcasting revenues have declined since its ten-year peak in 2015, total contributions to Canadian content have remained stable over the same period, varying between $3.1 and $3.6 billion since 2010 (0.8% CAGR over the last ten years).

Annual radio CCD contributions are at the same amount as in 2010 (average of -0.02 % per year over the past ten years). They have increased almost 5% since last year. These contributions represent 1.4% of all contributions to Canadian content, similar to the ratios of the past 5 years.

CPE by licensed television services increased, on average, 1.1% per year for the past ten years, from $2.6 billion in 2010 to $2.9 billion in 2019. Over the same period, there has been an average decrease in annual contributions from on-demand services such as Sportsnet PPV and Bell TV On-Demand (‑4.8%), CBC/SRC conventional television services (‑3.5%), public and not-for‑profit conventional television (‑1.0%), and private conventional television (-0.2%). There has been, however, an average increase in contributions per year from discretionary services (4.1%).

Although BDUs contributed to the (now defunct) LPIF, and the ILNF (which replaced the former Small Market Local Programming Fund), the majority of these contributions over the past ten years have been directed to local expression, Certified Independent Production funds and to the CMF (95% of BDU contributions, in 2019).

Link directly to iv. Internet-based audio and television services estimated revenues iv. Internet-based audio and television services estimated revenues

Long description

Sector	Estimated revenues	Growth 2018-2019	2015-2019 CAGR
Audio services	$482.5 M	+14.0%	+21.2%
Video services	$4.5 B	+9.2%	+26.6%
Netflix	$1.5 B	+5.6%	+29.0%
Amazon Prime Video	$246.4 M	+7.2%	n/a
YouTube	$769.6 M	+7.3%	+38.6%
iTunes	$357.3 M	+0.5%	+5.6%
Total	$5.0 B	+9.7%	+26.0%

Source: Revenue estimates from Omdia

Note: AVOD revenues do not include "out of stream revenues" for Internet-based video services.

Internet-based audio and video services, also known as over-the-top (OTT) services, are provided to consumers through the Internet. These services generated estimated revenues of $5 billion in Canada, in 2019, according to the research firm Omdia.

For Internet-based audio, streaming is the method of accessing content that generates the most estimated revenues. The estimated growth for Internet-based audio services revenues in 2019 was 14%, with an impressive average annual growth rate of 21.1% since 2015.

Compared to 2018, Internet-based video revenues grew by an estimated 9.2%. The majority of estimated revenues from Internet-based video content come from subscription-based video‑on‑demand (SVOD) services. Examples of these services include Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

SVOD refers to subscription-based video-on-demand service. This is an Internet-based service model in which a client pays a subscription fee to gain access to a library of content. This category includes services that air the content of the library according to a linear schedule (e.g., Sportsnet Now) and services that permit a user to choose from a catalogue of content that is available at any time (e.g., Netflix).

TVOD refers to transactional video-on-demand service. This is an Internet-based service model in which a client pays for specific content but generally does not pay to access the service itself (e.g., iTunes, Microsoft Movies & TV, and the PlayStation Network).

AVOD refers to advertising video-on-demand service. This is an Internet-based service model in which a client typically has free access to content but is exposed to in-stream advertisements (e.g., YouTube).

A significant majority of Canadians continue to use traditional television and radio services. In 2019, on average, 80% of Canadians watched traditional television and 84% listened to traditional radio in any given week. Although growing steadily, Internet-based audio and video streaming is consumed by a smaller proportion of the population, at 61% for Canadians watching Internet-based television services in any given week and 42% for Canadians listening to music using an online streaming service, in any given month.

Additional information concerning Internet-based audio and video services, as well as methodology, is available on Open Data in the TV and Radio figures and tables.

Link directly to v. Spotlight: Commercial radio v. Spotlight: Commercial radio

In 2019, 719 reporting commercial radio stations reported $1.45 billion in revenues, a 4% decrease from 2018. The overall profitability margin of those commercial radio stations declined slightly by 1% from 18.3% to 17.3%.

The 600 reporting FM commercial stations reported revenues of $1.2 billion in 2019, representing 83% of all commercial radio revenues. Consistent with previous years, FM stations surpassed AM stations in terms of profitably, reporting a profit before interest and taxes (PBIT) margin of 20.2%, compared to 3.4% for AM stations.

FM commercial stations relied less on local advertising revenues and more on national advertising revenues than AM stations. Whereas FM stations generated 62% of their revenues from local advertising and 36% from national advertising, AM stations generated 74% of their revenues from local advertising and 24% from national advertising.

Although the vast majority of revenues were generated by English- language radio stations, profitability in terms of PBIT margins was relatively close between French- and English-language stations at 19.0% and 17.1%, respectively, with third-language stations trailing behind at 13.0%. What sets third-language radio stations apart from French- and English-language radio stations, however, is revenue composition: they generated 93% of their revenues from local advertising, compared to 60% and 64% for French- and English-language stations, respectively. In addition, third-language stations are mainly concentrated in major markets, and have a limited presence outside of those markets.

Link directly to Market composition Market composition

In 2019, the five largest radio ownership groups in Canada garnered 63.9% of total commercial radio revenues. The two largest groups, BCE (109 stations) and Rogers (57 stations) garnered close to 40% of total radio revenues in 2019.

For 2019, in addition to reporting the majority of the revenues of the radio sector, these five ownership groups garnered the majority of tuning in both official-language markets. In the French-language market, Cogeco and BCE together held 55% of weekly average tuning hours, with Cogeco leading at 34%, followed by BCE at 21%. In the English-language market, BCE lead at 18%, followed by Rogers with 57 stations and Corus with 39 stations, both at 12%.

Link directly to Formats Formats

In 2019, the News/Talk radio format captured the largest share of tuning for both language-markets. However, News/Talk captured significantly more in the French-language market with over a third of the tuning share compared to the English-language market with less than a quarter.

The top three formats in the French-language market garnered approximately 71% of the tuning share, with talk radio (News/talk and Radio-Canada Première combined) leading with 37%, followed by the hot adult contemporary format at 19% and adult contemporary at 15%.

The top three formats in the English-language market garnered approximately 45% of the tuning share, with talk radio (CBC Radio One and News/talk) leading with 23%, followed by the Adult Contemporary and Country formats, garnering approximately 12% and 10%, respectively, of the tuning share.

The 33 News/Talk stations in Canada reported a total of $129 million in revenues in 2019, representing a 5.6% decrease from 2018. These stations represented almost 4.6% of the total commercial radio stations in Canada and reported 8.9% of the revenues. Although they reported a higher average revenue per station than the average commercial radio station, due to higher operating expenses – spoken word programming is labour intensive and involves significantly more resources to produce than musical content^{Footnote 6} – the average PBIT for stations operating this format is 8.0% compared to the average of 17.3% of the 719 commercial radio stations. AM talk radio stations shared 62% of talk radio revenues and had an average PBIT margin of 4.5% (compared to an average of 3.4% PBIT margin of the 119 commercial AM radio stations).

In terms of regional distribution, 46% of the revenues of the commercial radio stations in the News/Talk format were garnered by the 8 stations in Quebec. These stations reported an average revenue per station of $7.4 million in 2019 compared to $2.8 million for the 25 stations outside Quebec.

Link directly to vi. Spotlight: CBC/SRC vi. Spotlight: CBC/SRC

Link directly to CBC/SRC Radio CBC/SRC Radio

The CBC/SRC is Canada’s public broadcaster. Its 14 AM stations and 50 FM stations reported revenues of $325.5 million in 2019, a decrease of 0.6% from 2018. In 2019, Parliamentary appropriations represented 96.4% of the CBC/SRC’s radio revenues.

From 2014 to 2017, national advertising sales for CBC/SRC stations represented a modest source of income. At their height in 2015, they represented 0.5% of the public broadcaster’s total revenues. Since 2017, the CBC/SRC ceased receiving revenues from national advertising sales.

ICI Radio-Canada Première and its English counterpart, CBC Radio One, are popular talk radio services. ICI Radio-Canada Première, is the second most popular radio format, with 18% of French-language tuning share, while CBC Radio One is the most popular English-language radio format with 14% of English-language tuning share. Within the context of the total radio market, CBC/SRC’s combined talk and music radio programming (in both languages) garnered 17% of the total tuning shares in 2019 (4.7% for French-language stations and 12.3% for the English-language stations).

CBC/SRC French- and English-language radio services are available, over-the-air, in every province, in both official languages. In many places, they are the most important source of over-the-air radio services for Canadians in the Official Language Minority (OLM) population. Without CBC/SRC stations and rebroadcasters, the OLM population in Canada would lose 69% of radio services in their first official language spoken.

Link directly to CBC/SRC Conventional television CBC/SRC Conventional television

In 2019, the combined revenues of private and CBC/SRC conventional television stations totalled $2.5 billion, declining an average of 3.3% per year from 2015, when they were $2.9 billion.

Advertising (both local and national) constituted the vast majority (85%) of the revenues of private conventional television stations and represented 20% of revenues derived from CBC/SRC conventional stations. Parliamentary appropriations represented 72% of the revenues of CBC/SRC conventional television stations in 2019. In the past five years, parliamentary appropriations allocated to the CBC/SRC’s television activities have decreased, on average, by 2.5% per year while advertising revenues decreased, on average, by 3.8% per year.

More information about CBC/SRC’s revenues, CPE, News, PNI and tuning share for discretionary services is available on Open Data (see Datasets available on Open Data).

Link directly to vii. Datasets available on Open Data vii. Datasets available on Open Data

There is an Excel workbook and CSV zip related to this report that have been published on the Open Data portal. They contain the data found in the figures and tables in this section of the CMR, in addition to supplementary datasets (B-S1 to B-S9) that originate from earlier editions of the CMR.

Instructions: Use the table below to search for datasets available on Open Data that are related to this section of the CMR. When you have found the dataset, go to the Find a CMR Dataset page and download the workbook Data - Broadcasting Sector. Search for the ‘tab name’ in the Excel workbook tabs to locate the data.

Link directly to viii. Methodology viii. Methodology

Link directly to CRTC data collection CRTC data collection

The CRTC data collection has sourced its statistical and financial data from the annual returns provided by commercial and CBC/SRC radio stations, conventional television stations, discretionary services, and on-demand services for the broadcast year which ended August 31, 2019.

CBC/SRC revenues include parliamentary appropriations for conventional television.

Annual returns for the broadcast year ending 31 August 2019 were required to be filed with the Commission by 30 November 2019. Data received subsequent to the compilation date is not reflected in this publication. The data reported for previous years has been updated to reflect any additional or adjusted information received by the Commission after the 31 August date for prior years' publications.

Pursuant to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86, the term “discretionary services” now encompasses all currently licensed pay, specialty and discretionary services, while the term “on-demand service” now encompasses all licensed pay-per-view and video-on-demand services.

Link directly to Media Technology Monitor (MTM) Media Technology Monitor (MTM)

MTM measures Canadians’ media technology adoption and use at two points in time to monitor changes in media penetration and use over the year. Telephone interviews are conducted with a regionally representative sample of Canadians who have a landline telephone service and those who rely solely on cell phone service. The fall survey includes 8,000 Canadian adults (4,000 Anglophones and 4,000 Francophones). Of those 8,000 respondents, 2,976 have also completed an online survey introduced in the fall. An independent sample of 4,000 Canadians (2,000 Anglophones and 2,000 Francophones) is surveyed in the spring.

www.mtm-otm.ca

The CMR uses data collected from the fall survey unless stated otherwise.

Link directly to Omdia (formerly, Ovum) Omdia (formerly, Ovum)

Download-based audio services

Revenues of download-based audio services are estimated based on publicly available data such as company annual reports in addition to the country’s other media revenues such as physical music album sales and live music attendance revenues. These estimates are further refined using data about online audio subscriptions in the market as a benchmark.

In some cases where information is unavailable, Omdia based its revenue estimations on the service provider’s market shares and revenues reported in a similar country.

Streaming audio services

Streaming audio services comprise different business models for which different methodologies apply. The total revenues of subscription-based digital streaming, advertisement-based digital streaming, and audio-video streams are added to determine total revenues of streaming audio services.

• Revenues of subscription-based digital streaming services (such as Spotify) are estimated based on publicly available data, including the number of subscribers and service rates/pricing, such as company annual reports and news articles. These are then used to estimate an average monthly subscription revenue per subscriber, considering all available service plans from a given provider, and distributed to the estimated number of subscribers. The estimated average monthly subscription revenue per subscriber is then multiplied by the subscriber estimate.
• Revenues of advertisement-based digital streaming and video streams are estimated based on publicly available data about traffic, advertising load and pricing, as well as video traffic and digital advertising forecasts. These estimates are further refined based on each entity’s performance in other video segments.

SVOD services

Subscription-based (SVOD) services revenues are estimated based on publicly available data on the number of subscribers and services rates/pricing such as company annual reports and news articles. These are then used to estimate an average monthly subscription revenue per subscriber considering all available service plans from a given provider and distributed among the estimated number of subscribers. The estimated average monthly subscription revenue per subscriber is then multiplied by the subscriber estimate.

TVOD services

Transactional (TVOD) services revenues are estimated based on publicly available data such as company annual reports in addition to the country’s other media revenues such as home video and pay TV revenues. These estimates are further refined using data about online video subscriptions in the market as a benchmark.

In some cases where information is unavailable, Omdia based its revenue estimations on the service provider’s market shares and revenues in a country similar to the one subject to analysis.

AVOD services

Advertising-based services’ revenues are estimated using publicly available and, where necessary, quantitatively modelled data (informed by analyst knowledge and assumptions) about advertising load, pricing and market share. These are then applied to video traffic and digital advertising forecast models to derive revenue estimates. These estimates are further refined based on each entity’s performance in other video segments.

Omdia defines AVOD revenue as revenue generated through the sale of in-stream video advertising (i.e., pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll, and in-player overlays) delivered over the internet. This excludes out-of-stream video advertising (e.g., video ads that play independently of video content, such as in-read and in-feed social video ad formats). This revenue is from advertiser spending.

The YouTube revenue figure represents YouTube in-stream video advertising revenue, which comprises revenue generated through the delivery of in-stream video advertising (i.e., pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll, and in-player overlays) on YouTube. This does not include revenue generated by static display, dynamic display ads, or search ads delivered on the YouTube platform. This revenue is from advertiser spending.

The broadcaster company revenue figures represent the total in-stream video advertising revenue generated by the combined total of each player's online video properties.

The Facebook revenue figure comprises revenue generated through the delivery of in-stream video advertising (i.e., mid-rolls) placed in videos viewed on the Facebook platform. This includes videos viewed within the News Feed, Suggested Videos, and Facebook's recently launched Watch platform. This revenue is from advertiser spending.

Out-of-stream video advertising revenue comprises revenue generated through the delivery of out-of-stream advertising (i.e., video ads that are served outside of the video player). This includes in-feed video advertising on all social networks. It also includes out-of-stream video advertising placed on digital publishers' sites and interstitial video advertising delivered within mobile apps. This revenue is from advertiser spending.

Mobile video advertising comprises revenue from in-stream video advertising (pre-rolls, mid-rolls, post-rolls) and out-of-stream video advertising delivered over the internet to, viewed on, and formatted for mobile devices.

Desktop and laptop video advertising comprises revenue from in-stream video advertising (pre-rolls, mid-rolls, post-rolls) and out-of-stream video advertising delivered over the internet to desktop PCs and laptops.

Connected TV video advertising comprises revenue from in-stream video advertising (pre-rolls, mid-rolls, post-rolls) delivered over the internet to smart TVs, media streamers, games consoles, and connected set-top boxes.

Omdia has restated past years Internet-based video revenue estimates, to integrate newly publicly disclosed information from entities offering services and collecting revenues in Canada. This may affect year over year comparisons.

Link directly to Numeris Numeris

Audience measurement data is important not only to industry stakeholders, who use the data to help sell air time to advertisers, but also to the CRTC, which uses the data to assess the effectiveness of its policies by understanding the reach of programming across the country and across various demographics.

• Television audience measurement data sourced from Numeris was collected by portable people meter (PPM) devices.
• Radio audience measurement data is based on Numeris radio diary data from the fall surveys across Canada, Monday to Sunday from 5 am to 1am, with participants aged 12 or older.

The Numeris data presented by linguistic market divides Canada into two sections: (1) all of Canada, excluding Francophone respondents in Quebec; and (2) exclusively Francophones respondents in Quebec.
The television seasons used by Numeris were the following:

• 26 August 2013 to 31 August 2014, includes all persons 2+, Monday to Sunday, 2 a.m. to 2 a.m.
• 1 September 2014 to 30 August 2015, includes all persons 2+, Monday to Sunday, 2 a.m. to 2 a.m.
• 31 August 2015 to 28 August 2016, includes all persons 2+, Monday to Sunday, 2 a.m. to 2 a.m.
• 29 August 2016 to 27 August 2017, includes all persons 2+, Monday to Sunday, 2 a.m. to 2.a.m.
• 28 August 2017 to 26 August 2018, includes all persons 2+, Monday to Sunday, 2 a.m. to 2 a.m.
• 27 August 2018 to 30 August 2019, includes all persons 2+, Monday to Sunday, 2 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Link directly to Definitions Definitions

AVOD refers to advertising video-on-demand service. This is an Internet-based service model in which a client typically has free access to content but is exposed to in-stream advertisements (e.g., YouTube).

BDU revenues refers to revenues from basic and non-basic services and excludes Internet-based service revenues, such as Netflix, Crave and Club Illico, but include IPTV services such as Bell Fibe and Telus Optik TV.

Broadcasting contributions to Canadian content include Canadian content development (CCD) contributions, Canadian programming expenditures (CPE), contributions to the creation and production of Canadian programming from BDUs and tangible benefits from ownership transactions in the form of CCD contributions and CPE.

Canadian programming expenditures refers to expenditures used to create Canadian programming and to ensure that a diversity of voices and interests are represented in our national broadcasting system. The policy objectives of the Broadcasting Act include encouraging the development of Canadian expression and ensuring that each element of the Canadian broadcasting system contributes to the creation and presentation of Canadian programming, in an appropriate manner. As such, Canadian broadcasters are required to allocate portions of their annual broadcasting revenues to expenditures on Canadian programming.

Canadian content development (CCD) contributions are financial contributions made by radio broadcasters to support the development and promotion of Canadian musical and spoken word content for broadcast.

Direct-to-home (DTH) refers to satellite service providers.

The term discretionary services encompasses all currently licensed pay, specialty and discretionary services, pursuant to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) is a metric used to measure financial performance. It is expressed as a percentage of total revenues.

IPTV refers to Internet protocol television such as Bell Fibe and Telus Optik TV, but excludes Internet-based services, such as Netflix, Crave and Club Illico.

The term on-demand services encompasses all licensed pay-per-view and video-on-demand services, pursuant to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86.

PBIT refers to profit before interest and taxes.

Program of national interest (PNI) are programs including drama and comedy, long-form documentary, and specific Canadian award shows that celebrate Canadian creative talent. For French-language broadcasters, PNI also include music video and variety programs:

• Long-form documentary (category 2b);
• Drama and comedy (category 7);
• French-language music, dance and variety programming (categories 8 and 9); and
• English-language award shows (subset of category 11).

SVOD refers to subscription-based video-on-demand service. This is an Internet-based service model in which a client pays a subscription fee to gain access to a library of content. This category includes services that air the content of the library according to a linear schedule (e.g., Sportsnet Now) and services that permit a user to choose from a catalogue of content that is available at any time (e.g., Netflix).

Total broadcasting revenues include revenues from private commercial and CBC/SRC conventional television, discretionary and on-demand television, private commercial and CBC/SRC radio, as well as broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDU). They do not include Internet-based services unless stated otherwise.

TVOD refers to transactional video-on-demand service. This is an Internet-based service model in which a client pays for specific content but generally does not pay to access the service itself (e.g., iTunes, Microsoft Movies & TV, and the PlayStation Network).