Specialty TV services earned $2.9 billion in revenue in 2011, the largest share of the total $3.7 billion in revenues generated by specialty, pay and pay-per-view TV and VOD services, according to financial results released by the CRTC Tuesday.

According to the CRTC, these services as an aggregate increased their revenues by 36.7% over the last five years, with profits of between 22% and 25% before interest and taxes margins, reflecting a strong demand for these services.

In 2011, these services generated $3.7 billion in revenues, a 7.9% increase from the previous year.

Terrestrial subscribers were the top source of revenue generation at $1.7 billion. National and local advertising accounted for $1.2 billion and $30.2 million of the total 2011 revenue for these services, respectively. English-language and bilingual services earned $3.1 billion of the total revenues, with French-language services earning $587.2 million.

The specialty, pay and pay-per-view TV and VOD services spent $1.3 billion on Canadian programming last year, an increase of 8.5% over the previous year.

The top spending category was sports programming ($397 million), followed by $241 million on programs of national interest (PNI) (including drama series, long-form docs and Canadian award shows) and $187 million on news programs.

Also up in 2011 was industry employment in these sectors of the broadcasting industry, with 5,900 people employed and paid $461 million in salaries, compared to 5495 people and $415 in salaries the previous year.

From Playback Daily