Source : Hollywood Reporter

TORONTO -- The good news for Canada is that the country is watching more TV each week and people are tuning in to more Canadian channels rather than picking up U.S. signals.

But the bad news, as revealed Thursday by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, is that while Canadians are doing more viewing of domestic TV channels, they're watching more U.S. shows at the expense of homegrown fare.

The CRTC, in its fourth annual report on the Canadian broadcast sector, said the average weekly viewing for Canadians 2 years old and older rose this year to 22.5 hours from a year-earlier 22.1 hours.

The TV watchdog's report also indicated the overall Canadian English-language broadcast market share went up to 68.9% this year from 64.1% in 2002.

By contrast, the overall market share for U.S. TV signals dropped to 24.2% this year, compared with a year-earlier 27.4%.

At the same time, the report says Canadian TV stations are increasingly airing U.S. network dramas, comedies and reality shows in primetime.

So while Canadians may be watching U.S. shows on Canadian channels, as opposed to U.S. channels carried here, Canadians are still showing a preference for U.S. primetime fare over their own homegrown programming, the report shows.

Broken down, the market share for Canadian free over-the-air TV stations rose to 34.8% from 33.3% in 2002, while domestic analog pay TV and specialty channels saw their market share rise to 21.4% this year, compared with a year-earlier 20%.

U.S. free over-the-air stations airing in Canada saw their market share dip to 10% this year from 12.2% in 2002, while U.S. pay TV and specialty channels saw their own market share fall to 11% in 2003, against a year-earlier 13.4%.

The CRTC noted that, while total viewing of Canadian English-language TV channels nationwide, excluding French-speaking Quebec, has remained virtually constant since1993, domestic pay TV and specialty channels have increased their market share at the expense of domestic free over-the-air TV stations.

The CRTC study indicated that Canadian English-language pay TV and specialty channels have seen their viewing shares rise 17% since 1993, reaching a 22.8% share of viewing in fall 2002.

Canadian English-language conventional channels, by contrast, have seen their market shares fall from 46.3% in 1993 to 34.8% this year.

On the programming front, Canadians continue to prefer U.S. dramas and sitcoms over homegrown alternatives and look mostly to domestic TV channels to remain in touch with local, national and world news.

The CRTC study indicated that English-speaking Canadians watched indigenous dramas and comedies during only 11% of their total viewing, a figure that has remained largely unchanged during the past two years.

Foreign -- mostly U.S. -- dramas and comedy programs accounted for the remaining 89% of viewing -- a dismal statistic for Canadian broadcasters, funding agencies and the CRTC itself, all of whom have been working to boost viewing for homegrown programming.

French-speaking Quebec, which has its own insulated TV market, holds more promise for domestic producers. The viewing share for Canadian drama and comedy programs by French-speaking viewers rose to 48% in 2002 from 43% in 2000, with the rest of the share going to U.S. shows.

In terms of program expenditures, the CRTC report indicated that private conventional TV stations are licensing more news and current-affairs programming and spending proportionally fewer dollars on domestic dramas and comedies.

© Hollywood Reporter