Spending on Canadian news and information programming was up about 36% between 1998 and 2002, while spending on drama and comedy programming among the English- and French-language private and public broadcasters was up only 11%, according to the fourth annual Broadcasting Policy Monitoring Report from the CRTC.

The 134-page report, designed to measure the effectiveness of CRTC broadcast policy, shows that drama and comedy spending by private English-language television networks dropped 20% between 1998 and 2002 to $58.6 million.

News, on the other hand, was up 10.8% to $247.7 million over the period, and other information programming was up 55% to $40.4 million – highlighting a distinct shift to news and information programming by private broadcasters.

Overall spending by English-language private broadcasters was down 3.3% over the five-year period.

The trend speaks to the downturn of Canadian drama, says ACTRA.

‘Conventional TV broadcasters were clearly not supporting Canadian drama programming in 2002,’ says Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director. ‘We expect things to get even worse if broadcasters can continue to spend less on Canadian drama and fail to schedule it in primetime. Canadians can’t watch what isn’t there.’

ACTRA puts the onus directly on the CRTC, whose 1999 Television Policy reduced incentives and requirements for broadcasters to invest in drama. Waddell predicts that 2003’s report will be even more dire.

‘Clearly, the CRTC must introduce a new mix of meaningful requirements and performance incentives before Canadian programs fade to black,’ says Waddell. ‘It’s also critical that the federal government invest in programming by restoring and enhancing the Canadian Television Fund with a guarantee of long-term and stable funding.’

At the CBC, in contrast, spending is way up across most genres, but most markedly in news and information. News spending was up 142.5% to $130.5 million between 1998 and 2002, while other information programming was up 90%. Sports spending at CBC increased 41.9% while drama was up 71.8%. Total spending was up 61.3%.

English-language pay, pay per view and specialty services, meanwhile, saw programming expenditures jump 131.3% to $510.3 million, helped along by a 177% increase in the number of reporting services to 86.

French-language broadcasting, both public and private, saw a 28.5% increase to $91 million in news programming between 1998 and 2002 and a drop of 7.3% to $44.6 million in other information programming. Sports spending dropped 2% to $23.6 million and drama and comedy spending increased 7.8% to $64.6 million. Overall, spending by French-language broadcasters was up 10.5% to $305.7 million.

‘There has been sort of a flat trend in drama viewing over the past few years,’ says Guy Mayson, acting president and CEO of the CFTPA. ‘That’s a disappointment and challenge. There needs to be a concerted strategy on drama’

Broadcasters have maintained their financial commitment to drama, he notes, but have not grown the sector like they have in-house programming such as news and licensing for foreign programming.

Viewing trends, meanwhile, show that 93% of the weekly primetime hours on private television networks were dedicated to foreign programming compared to only 7% for Canadian programming.

By comparison, 90% of CBC’s primetime television watching was Canadian programming in 2002, while 43% of primetime hours of English pay and specialty services was Canadian programming.

French-language broadcasters offered more Canadian programming in the peak viewing times, with 75% of primetime viewing on private conventional TV, 98% of primetime viewing of SRC, and 55% of primetime viewing on French-language pay and specialty services focused on Canadian programming.

In 2002, television consumption of English-language Canadian drama and comedy programs remained at only 11%, the same tally as the two previous years, with 89% of viewing won by foreign drama and comedy programs. In contrast, the viewing share for Canadian drama and comedy programs by French-language viewers increased to 48% in 2002, up from 43% in 2000.

Broadcaster shares evolve

According to BBM, CanWest Media’s television share of regions outside Quebec has grown from 9.2% in 1997 to 14.7% in 2002, a 60% growth in share. Bell Globemedia, meanwhile, saw its share of the Canadian market (outside Quebec) grow from 16.4% in 1997 to 19.2% in 2002, up 17%. In Quebec, Bell Globemedia’s share is vastly improved from 0.7% in 1997 to 7.3% in 2002.

CBC’s total share in Canada, excluding Quebec, has dwindled from 10% in 1997 to 7.2% in 2002, and inside Quebec SRC has dropped from 17.8% to 15.2%.

In English Canada, CHUM’s share has grown from 5.7% to 7.6%.

For the specialty-only services, Alliance Atlantis has improved its share of the Canadian market outside of Quebec from 1.4% in 1997 to 3.6% in 2002, while inside Quebec, the share has improved from 0.2% to 0.9% over the same period. Corus has seen its audience dwindle in Quebec (0.7% in 1997 to 0.3% in 2002), but grow in the rest of Canada (3.4% in 1997 to 4.3% in 2002). Astral Media has doubled its audience in Quebec (4.9% in 1997, 8.9% in 2002) and the rest of Canada (0.9% in 1997, 1.8% in 2002.

According to the CRTC’s report, the cable sectors’ share of subscribers has shrunk from 80.5% of the market in 1999 to 72.4% in 2002 because of increasing competition from direct-to-home satellite suppliers and multipoint distribution systems.

Subscriptions to DTH totaled nearly two million in 2002 – up 440,000 people in a year – and their share of the market reached 21.2%.

See the full document at: www.crtc.gc.ca/ENG/whatsnew/2003/dec18.htm.