Canadian broadcasters lost money in 2009

Financial data on Canada's private broadcasters released Thursday by the federal regulator confirms a steep slide in industry profitability and revenues in 2009.

Private broadcasters, such as CTV and Global, saw their total revenues fall 7.9 per cent to $1.97 billion.

Last year, two local CTV affiliates closed, several more local stations were sold, and Global made deep cuts in its news service.

Canadian broadcasters lost $116.4 million before interest and taxes over the 2009 broadcast year, according to numbers released Thursday bythe Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Both local and national advertising revenues were down more than 10 per cent over the year.

Broadcasters have asked the CRTC to support a new business model that would include a fee from cable and satellite companies that carry their signals.

Canadian broadcasting distribution companies saw their revenue climb to $11.4 billion in 2009, an increase of $1.1 billion. The broadcast distributors have fought against the proposal to pay a fee for television signals.

A CRTC decision on the fee-for-carriage dispute is to be announced Monday.

While their profitability fell, Canada's broadcasters continued to increase the amount they spend on foreign programming up 9.2 per cent to $846.3 million in 2009.

This drew a blast from ACTRA, the union representing Canadian acting talent.

"Today's numbers tell the same story we've seen for the past 10 years," Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's national executive director, said in a statement.

"Canadian drama is dying while broadcasters feed their addiction to U.S. programming, and cable companies are making obscene profits while ripping-off Canadians."

Spending on Canadian programming by the private broadcasters fell 3.3 per cent to $599.4 million compared with $619 million in 2008.

ACTRA urged the CRTC to force over-the-air broadcasters to spend a percentage of their revenues on Canadian programming, with at leastsix per cent of their revenues dedicated to drama, which private broadcasters tend to avoid because it is expensive to produce.