CRTC: Canadians Accessing More Content on Different Platforms

OTTAWA-GATINEAU: According to the latest report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), TV-consumption levels in the country are about the same as the previous year, though Canadians are using an increasing number of devices to access programming.

The 2013 edition of the Communications Monitoring Report finds that Canadians watched an average of 28.2 hours of television per week, which is down slightly from the 28.5 hours reported in the prior year. Collectively, Canadians watched 931.3 million hours of TV per week, 48 percent of which were Canadian programs.

More than two out of four Canadians owned smartphones and more than one out of four owned a tablet. These devices are increasingly being used to access programming on digital platforms. The report finds that 33 percent of Canadians watched Internet TV; typical users watched 3 hours per week. Also, 6 percent of Canadians watched programming on a tablet or smartphone, while 4 percent report watching TV programming exclusively online.

In 2012, the broadcasting industry contributed C$3.4 billion to the creation and promotion of Canadian programming, an increase of C$263 million from the previous year.

In 2012, the number of Canadian households that subscribed to basic television service increased by 1 percent to 12 million. More than 68 percent of Canadians television subscribers obtained this service from a cable company, 24 percent from a satellite company and 8 percent from companies that deliver television programming over telephone lines (known as an Internet Protocol television service). Canadian families spent an average of C$52 per month on television services, which was a few cents less than what they spent a year earlier.