Financial results for private Canadian television stations revealed

Last week the CRTC released the financial results for conventional Canadian private television stations for 2000-2004, revealing that while revenues increased between 2003 and 2004, earnings before interest and taxes declined. The report also showed that from 2003 to 2004, local advertising sales increased 1% to $364.1 million, while national advertising sales dropped 1.5% to $1.447 billion. The CRTC report also found that 2004 spending on Canadian programming increased 5.8% to $575.5 million from the previous year. The bad news for Canadian broadcasters is that while revenues grew from the previous year, EBIT had plunged 22.7% which the commission chalks up to increased programming and operating expenses. In all, the private Canadian television industry employed nearly 8,000 people accounting for over $553 million in salaries.