BDUs earn more than $10 billion in profits for 2008: CRTC report

BDU revenues have been on a steady rise in the past five years, generating more than $10 billion dollars in profits for 2008, according to figures from the CRTC. The impressive figures are likely to reinforce calls by conventional television broadcasters that BDUs should be compelled to pay fee-for-carriage. Cable companies pocketed $8.2 billion in 2008, up from $7.10 billion in the previous year. This represents an increase of 16.1% . In addition, the number of subscribers to basic cable services upped to 7.9 million, representing an increase of 2.9% from 2007. For Direct-to-home (DTH) satellite distributers and Multi-point distribution system (MDS), profits totalled $2.05 billion, which is a growth of 10.8% compared to 2007 when profits stood at $1.85 billion. Regarding Canadian programming, BDUs also upped their contributions which hit $323 million in 2008. This is an increase of 7.9%. The great beneficiary of this money was the Canadian Television Fund, which received $166.3 million followed by community cable channels, which received $115.6 million. The rest--$ 41.2 million—was directed to independent funds. In payments to affiliate companies, that include pay and specialty services, cablecos dished out $1.56 billion. This is a 10.8% increase compared to the $1.40 billion paid in 2007. DTH and MDS paid $740.8 million to affiliates, representing a 6.3% increase from the $696.6 million in 2007. The rest of the report can be read here.

BDUs earn more than $10 billion in profits for 2008: CRTC report

Brief | April 23, 2009

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