Copyright submission provides fresh ‘distant viewing’ data

BBM data submitted to the Copyright Board earlier this summer provides the first comprehensive update of Canadian “distant viewing” statistics since 1994, Peter Grant, a broadcasting expert and partner with McCarthy Tétrault, said in a Copyright Board submission. The data, which was submitted as a part of a Copyright Board proceeding to determine the allocation of retransmission royalties from 2009 to 2013, measures the average local and out-of-area audiences of 219 over-the-air stations carried by Canadian cable and satellite-TV providers during the 2007-2008 broadcast year. “ince its decision in 1996, although the Board has dealt with a number of issues relating to retransmission, it has not had occasion to consider any new viewing data,” Grant wrote in a June 22 submission. “Thus the allocation of television retransmission royalties for each year from 1995 to 2008 has been based on 1994 viewing data, and the collectives’ respective shares of those royalties has reflected the relative viewing in 1994.” Grant’s submission included a study of the BBM data completed by Barry Kiefl, president of Canadian Media Research Inc. When compiling the data, BBM used postal code information to determine whether viewers of individual stations should be considered “local viewers” or “distant viewers,” Grant wrote in the submission. He said BBM defined distant viewing as occurring when a viewer is located more than 32 kilometres beyond the “Grade B” regional contours of a broadcaster’s over-the-air transmitter. The data shows that Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary Group TVA Inc.’s French-language Montreal station, CFTM-TV, had more distant viewers than any other over-the-air station during the 2007-2008 broadcast year, averaging 74,456 distant viewers per minute over Canadian cable and satellite-TV subscriptions. Atlanta, Ga.-based Peachtree TV (WPCH-TV) followed with an average distant audience of 72,949 in Canada, followed by Global’s Vancouver station (CHAN-TV), which averaged 27,256 distant viewers per minute. Montreal-based, French-language stations operated by CBC/Radio-Canada (CBFT) and Tele-Quebec (CIVM-TV) rounded out the top five most-watched stations by distance viewers, averaging 21,322 and 20,696 distant viewers per minute, respectively, the study shows. Richard Paradis, president of media and consulting firm Groupe CIC in Montreal, said the Montreal stations’ larger distant tuning viewership numbers is a reflection of the smaller base of French-language programming options francophone Canadians have to choose from. He said francophone populations across Quebec and New Brunswick are more limited in their viewing options than are Anglophone Canadians, who have more English-language over-the-air and specialty stations to choose from. “It’s just a fact of life that in Quebec, there’s a lot of people that don’t watch or understand English,” he said. “So they’re watching the only thing available and that’s the French-language services.” In all, 24 over-the-air stations averaged more than 10,000 Canadian cable and satellite viewers per minute during the 2007-2008 broadcast year, including eight U.S. stations, The Wire Report’s analysis of the study shows. Knowledge Network Corporation’s Vancouver station (CKNO) was the lone Canadian station among those with at least 10,000 distant viewers per minute to see all of its cable and satellite viewers tune in via distant signals. Global’s station in St. John’s, N.L., (CJON-TV) had the second-greatest proportion of its audience made up of out-of-area viewers, with 77.68 per cent of its 23,974 average cable and satellite viewers tuning in from beyond 32 kms past the regional contour range, the analysis shows. CTV’s Moncton, N.B., station (CKCW-TV) also recorded a high distant tuning rate, with 64.45 per cent of its 20,953 average viewers tuning in through distant signals. No other Canadian station with an average of more than 10,000 distant viewers recorded a distant tuning rate over 50 per cent. The BBM data and Kiefl’s study also provide total average audience numbers, which combine local and distance tuning numbers, for each station. The data shows that TVA’s CFTM station averaged more than twice as many cable and satellite viewers than any other over-the-air station in Canada during the 2007-2008 broadcast year, with an average audience of 234,975 per minute. Radio-Canada’s CBFT station was the second-most popular among Canadian viewers during the period, with an average audience of 114,836 cable and satellite viewers, followed by CTV’s flagship Toronto station (CFTO-TV), which averaged 107,106 viewers per minute. Peachtree TV was the only U.S.-based station among 17 stations that recorded average audiences of more than 30,000 cable and satellite viewers per minute, an analysis of the study shows. news@thewirereport.ca

Copyright submission provides fresh ‘distant viewing’ data

Broadcast | September 7, 2012

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