Canadian TV subscribers number down, but price up: report

Some 200,000 Canadians cancelled their TV subscription last year, showed a report released by Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Wednesday.

The overall number of TV subscribers edged down from 11.4 million in 2014 to 11.2 million in 2015, while the average TV subscriber's monthly bill edged up from 65.25 Canadian dollars (about 50.24 U.S dollars) to 66.08 Canadian dollars, the report said.

Internet Protocol television companies -- such as VMedia, Primus, Zazeen and ViaNet TV -- saw double-digit increases in their customer numbers during the year compared with the previous year, the report said.

However, those small increases on the margins weren't enough to offset deeper cuts at conventional cable and satellite television companies.

The number of TV subscribers reduced, the hit to the companies' bottom line wasn't quite bad as revenues dipped by just 0.1 percent to 8.9 billion Canadian dollars.

That's because TV providers managed to squeeze more money out of their remaining customers by offering them expanded or better services.

But more pressure on the revenue side of things compelled TV companies to cut costs. They spent less on making Canadian content last year, with the total spend down by 38.1 million Canadian dollars to 436.9 million Canadian dollars.

The report said the TV industry overall saw its costs of doing business increase by 1.3 percent to 7.2 billion dollars.

The industry employed 27,244 people in 2015, down 6.3 percent from 2014's level, the report said. (1 Canadian dollar equals about 0.77 U.S. dollar) Endit