Canadians tuning in less to traditional TV and radio, CRTC report finds

CRTC said on Wednesday people in Canada are increasingly turning their eyes on Internet-based media at the expense of traditional broadcasting schemes.

As senior citizens sign up for streaming video services, young people have triple the possibilities. (With shutter stock)

CRTC said on Wednesday people in Canada are increasingly turning their eyes on Internet-based media at the expense of traditional broadcasting schemes.

In a Wednesday annual report, Canadian radio, television and telecommunications committees said last year that nearly half of the Canadians had subscribed to certain online video services such as Netflix, CraveTV etc.

Nearly two thirds of the age of 18 to 34 support this service. Only one in six people over the age of 65 will do this

"This year's report shows that young Canadians are transforming audio and video content into digital platforms," ​​said Ian Scott, new CRTC chairman. "In other words, traditional broadcasters are adapting to this reality, and that service is still an attractive option for many Canadians."

In fact, the total number of users of Canadian cable TV, IPTV (Internet Protocol Television), satellite TV companies reached 11.1 million last year. This is 1% lower than last year's level, but its IPTV part has increased by 13.8% over the year and more than 300,000 new customers have been added in the last 12 months.

Overall, over three quarters of Canadian families last year ordered some kind of broadcasting service, penetration rate has declined for several years.

Last year, 22% of Canadians were streaming radio stations over the age of 18 and over 55% of streaming music videos of Internet services including Spotify, Apple Music etc were in fashion.

Digital space is growing rapidly, but Canadians still spend a lot of time consuming traditional media. Canadians saw traditional TV programs averaging 26.6 hours last year, compared to 27.2 hours in 2015. Canadians over 65 years old watch television programs up to 42.8 hours per week.

On the radio side, Canadians listen to 14.5 hours a week from 15.6 hours a week in 2015. Canadians over the age of 65 listen to most radio stations 18 hours a week

On September 26, CRTC announced the annual communication monitoring report. According to the report of 2013, Canadians are accessing more content on more platforms. Canadians listen to radio programs averaging 17.5 hours a week, but on average they are watching 28.2 hours of TV programs a week. The Canadian program accounts for 48.9% of Canadians watching TV in 2012. The report also revealed that more than half of the Canadians owned smartphones and more than a quarter owned tablets. In 2012, Internet and wireless communications became faster and more common in Canadian homes, 62% of Canadians downloaded at more than 5 Megabits per second, and 72% accessed the LTE network. (Press release, September 26, 2014)

On 29th January, the CRTC released a report on more than 1,300 comments they received. And that was the first step in "Talking about TV: Talking with Canadians". The CRTC uses the information gathered during this phase to provide an interactive questionnaire detailing some of the issues raised by Canadians in the first phase of February 18 (CRTC News Release 29/01/14) Create a. Talking about TV: Dialogue with Canadians "Through the announcement of the Let's Talk TV Selection Manual. At the first stage I was looking for awareness about Canadian personal experience, but in the" Let's Talk TV Selection Handbook " I examined problems that may affect Canadians. The survey will continue until March 14, 2014. (CRTC Press Release 18/02/14)

On March 12, CRTC published several research results based on the Let's Talk TV program. This aims to create a future Canadian TV system that encourages Canadians to create attractive and diverse programs. The CRTC lists four themes to begin introducing measures and policies to facilitate transition to increasingly demanding environments. The new policy of CRTC is to establish the foundation of an innovative approach that shifts the focus from the number of Canadian programs to quality, and to provide regulatory support for certain types of programs that are considered to be of public interest. Simplify the licensing process. The CRTC has decided to allow the broadcaster to apply for the elimination of compliance with the provisions of a trade agreement entered into force on April 29, 2016, that is, the terms of a trade agreement submitted to the committee in five years