Canada watched less television but more indigenous programming in 2004, according to the CRTC’s recent Broadcast Policy Monitoring Report, which assesses the impact of the regulator’s rules and policies.

The report shows that Canadians watched 30 minutes less per viewer each week than in 2003, although the exact numbers are somewhat unclear. According to Nielsen Media Research, Canadians watched an average of 25.8 hours of television per week, while BBM, also cited in the report, clocked us in at 21.4 hours.

Stats compiled over the 2003/04 television year by BBM show dramas and comedies accounted for 43% of viewing in Canadian households. Of the 160 hours of comedy and drama viewed per week on the 511 English-language television services available, 23% was Canadian in origin, up from 12% in ’02/03. The report notes that Canadians are getting 13% of their Cancon on specialties and digis, which tend to air high levels of homegrown programming. On 115 French-language channels, Canadian comedies and drama also accounted for 23%.

On CBC, which almost exclusively features Cancon, English-language Canadian drama and comedy programs accounted for 43% of the viewing. Homegrown French-language programming accounted for 66% of comedies and dramas viewed on Radio-Canada.

The audience share for Canadian stations versus non-Canadian increased to 71% in 2004 from 67% in 1993 for English-first provinces, and to 93% in ’04 from 88% in ’93 for Quebec.

English-language specialty, pay and pay-per-view services had revenues of $1.7 billion last year, about equal to the English private conventional broadcasters. French conventionals brought in $422 million, with French-language pay, specialty and PPV totaling around $363 million.

The report also reveals there are 2,003 BDUs in Canada: 1,960 cable companies, 29 multipoint distributors, 12 subscription services and two direct-to-home satellite subscription companies.

Digital service subscribers totaled nearly 4.5 million as of September 2004, an increase of 24% over June 2003. Approximately 52% used satellite services, while 46% used digital cable.

This latest report was released in late June, six months after the last BPMR. The CRTC says it has pushed up publication of the report – which previously came out at the end of the year – to mid-year to make it more current.

This is the first time the report has included BBM metered data.