CRTC reveals financial results for conventional television in Canada General News / C.R.T.C. Posted by RAD on Mar 04, 2008 - 02:29 PM The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today released its statistical and financial summaries for private conventional television, which provides information on the sector’s revenues, expenditures and profitability from 2003 to 2007. Although revenues and expenses were stable from 2006 to 2007, private conventional television stations improved on their profits before interest and taxes (PBIT). Overall, PBIT increased from $90.9 million in 2006 to $112.9 million in 2007, and the PBIT margin rose from 4.24% to 5.2% during the same period. However, these totals remained below those reported between 2003 and 2005. In 2007, private broadcasters generated $2.2 billion in total revenue. Revenues from the sale of local advertising posted a modest growth of 3.3%, coming in at $387.9 million, while national advertising sales remained consistent with the previous year and stood at $1.5 billion. Operating expenses held steady at $2 billion, and the acquisition and production of programming continued to constitute the majority of expenses. From 2006 to 2007, Canadian programming expenditures decreased by 1.2%, going from $623.7 million to $616 million. Of this amount, $143.5 million was paid to independent producers to acquire Canadian programming. Private broadcasters also spent $721.9 million on foreign programming, which represented an increase of 4.9% over the $688.3 million spent in 2006. Spending on Canadian programming included $74.2 million for drama, $103.5 million for general interest programming, $324.8 million for news programs, $60.6 million for other information programs, $23.8 million for musical and variety shows, $8.6 million for sports programs, and $12.2 million for game shows. In 2007, private conventional television stations employed 7,873 people and paid a total of $594.6 million in salaries. In comparison, this sector employed 8,197 people and paid a total of $593.6 million in salaries in 2006. Each year, the Commission compiles financial data on the broadcasting industry to produce this report, which also includes data on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In the coming months, the CRTC will publish similar reports on: radio; specialty, pay and pay-per-view television and video-on-demand services; and broadcasting distribution. These reports allow interested parties to stay informed of the Canada broadcasting industry’s financial situation. This article is from CHANNEL CANADA   http://www.channelcanada.com/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.channelcanada.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2126