CRTC: Canadian Pay-TV, PPV, VOD Services Generated C$4.2 Billion in 2014

OTTAWA/GATINEAU: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has released the 2014 financial results for specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand television services, which saw revenues increase by 3.1 percent last year.

In 2014, revenues from these services reached C$4.2 billion ($3.4 billion), up from the prior year's C$4.1 billion ($3.3 billion). This increase was largely driven by subscription revenues of C$160.3 million ($128 billion), up 5.9 percent compared to 2013, which more than compensated for the drop of C$53.6 million ($43 million), or 4.2 percent, in national advertising revenues.

A key driver for growth in specialty service revenues was sports services, which saw their revenues increase by C$124.2 million ($99 million), or 13.6 percent, in 2014.

Specialty, pay, pay-per-view and VOD television services invested C$1.5 billion ($1.2 billion) in the creation of new TV programs produced by Canadians, an increase of over 12 percent compared to the previous year. This increase, again, is largely attributable to sports services, whose Canadian programming expenditures increased by C$132 million ($106 million), or 32 percent, compared to 2013. Of those investments, C$432 million ($346 million) went to independent Canadian producers, C$376 million ($301 million) of which came from specialty TV services.

Expenditures related to foreign programming increased from C$528 million ($423 million) in 2013 to C$574 million ($460 million) in 2014, C$389 million ($312 million) of which came from specialty services.