During 2006, Canadian specialty, pay, pay-per-view television and video-on-demand enjoyed their highest revenue growth in the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Total revenues rose by 12.4% last year, to $2.5 billion, compared with $2.2 billion in 2005, with profits before interest and taxes totaling $572.7 million.

Breaking down the CRTC’s numbers, the total revenues include $48 million from local advertising, $834 million from national advertising and $35 million from other revenues. The largest share of total revenues, $2 billion, was earned by the 136 Canadian specialty television services operating in 2006, while the remaining $482 million was earned by pay, pay-per-view and VOD services. $1.8 billion came from 49 analog services, $69.7 million from the 17 Category 1 digital services, and $123.3 million from 70 Category 2 digital services.

Spending on Canadian programming by specialty and pay television services reached $880.6 million in 2006. Of that amount, $149.3 million was spent on news, $211.6 million on other information programs, $221.2 million for sports, $162.3 million for drama, $41.1 million for musical and variety shows, and $61.1 million for general interest programs. These services spent nearly $300 million to acquire Canadian programs from independent producers.

The data contained in this report were drawn from the annual reports of specialty, pay, pay-per-view television and VOD services. Individual data for these services, plus other details of the CRTC report, are available at: www.crtc.gc.ca.