The communications industry posted revenues of $51.1 billion in 2007, an increase of 5.7% over 2006, while revenues for broadcasting hit $13.1 billion, up 6.7%, according to the CRTC’s first annual Communications Monitoring Report.

The report, which replaces the commission’s separate reports on broadcasting and telecom, also says cable companies have emerged as major competitors as providers of local and cellular telephone service, and of high-speed Internet. By last year, cablecos had claimed 17.9% of local home lines and provided high-speed to 55% of subscribers.

The report provides ‘our first comprehensive look at the state of the overall communications industry in Canada,’ said CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein. Highlights include:

Television:

Canadians watched an average of 26.8 hours of television per week in ’07. Canadian television services attracted 98.5% of the French-language viewing audience in Quebec and 74.9% of the viewing audience in the rest of the country.

Revenues for private conventional television broadcasters rose to $2.2 billion, up 1.3%.

Revenues for specialty, pay and pay-per-view television and video-on-demand services increased by 9% to $2.7 billion.

Private conventional broadcasters spent $616 million on Canadian programming, down slightly from $623.7 million in 2006. Spending by specialty and pay television services increased from $888.4 million to $917.9 million in ’07.

Benefits stemming from the transfer of ownership and control totaled $291.1 million. The bulk of the benefits — funds based on percentage of the total value of broadcasting assets involved in transactions, which are then invested in the broadcasting system — generated in 2007 came from the transactions involving CTVglobemedia/CHUM, Rogers Media/CHUM’s Citytv stations and Canwest/Alliance Atlantis.

New media:

Internet usage continued to increase among Canadians, hitting 13.4 hours online per week among anglophones and 9.8 hours for francophones.

Among the more popular online activities — 36% of Canadians watch video, 16% listen to streaming radio and 17% download music. Also, the number of people who have watched a video online has more than doubled over the past three years, with user-generated content being more popular than professionally produced programs.

Online advertising continued to experience growth, with spending rising from $900 million in 2006 to $1.2 billion.

Broadcasting distribution:

In 2007, 7.7 million Canadians subscribed to cable services and 2.6 million subscribed to direct-to-home satellite distribution or multipoint distribution systems. The number of subscribers to digital services rose to 6.2 million.

BDUs contributed $296.7 million to Canadian programming and ‘local expression’ such as community channels. These companies contributed $273.6 million the previous year.

From Media in Canada