Canada has a well-developed media sector, but cultural output -- particularly in English Canada -- is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. Media are primarily for-profit corporations based on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues, although a public network, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation operates radio and TV networks in both English and French, and some provincial governments offer their own public broadcast services as well.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Cable Television 3 Radio Broadcasting 4 Newspapers 5 Motion Pictures 6 Book and Magazine Publishing |
The Canadian television broadcasting industry is split between public and private ownership. Canada currently has 128 originating television stations, which broadcast on 1,456 transmitters across the country, on both the VHF and UHF bands.
In addition to the public Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which operates both English and French television networks, there are four major private TV networks. CTV and Global broadcast in English, and are available throughout the country. TVA and TQS broadcast in French and are available over the air only in Quebec, although TVA is available across Canada on cable. TVA, TQS and the SRC (the french division of the CBC) function in the particular cultural context of Quebec Television. Most network stations are owned and operated by the networks themselves, although all networks except Global have some affiliates with different ownership.
There are, as well, a number of smaller broadcast systems, which are treated as independent local stations which air some common programming.
Television Broadcasting
Several provinces maintain provincial public broadcasting networks in addition to the CBC.
As well, there are multilingual community stations in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and a number of religious stations.
One station, Newfoundland and Labrador's NTV, does not fit the pattern, as it airs primarily Global entertainment programming, but airs the CTV network's newscasts.
TV station call letters in Canada are usually four letters, of which the first letter is always C, although a few stations have three call letters and some have five. Call letters beginning with the combination CB are reserved for CBC-owned stations. However, TV stations are not obligated to identify themselves over the air by their call letters, so many TV stations never use their call letters on the air.
There is no clear rule for the call letters of repeater stations -- some repeaters are labelled by the call-letters of the originating station, followed by a number, while others have their own distinct call letters. Low-power repeater transmitters (LPRTs) have their own unique callsign format, which consists of the letters CH followed by four numbers.
Canada also has a large number of cable channels. For a more extensive list of Canadian TV broadcast outlets, see List of Canadian television channels.
Although all broadcast networks in Canada are required to produce and air some Canadian programming, only the English and French networks of the CBC run almost entirely Canadian-produced schedules. (The English network does run a few imported British series, such as Coronation Street.) Both CTV and Global have at times faced criticism over their level of commitment to producing and airing Canadian programming. Both networks often find it easier to purchase rights to hit American series than to invest in Canadian productions, which are often prohibitively costly for the comparatively small size of the Canadian market. The French-language networks traditionally have had less difficulty meeting their Canadian content obligations, as the language difference makes Quebec audiences much more readily receptive to homegrown programming than to dubbed American imports.
Digital television is an emerging technology in Canada. Although some TV stations have begun broadcasting digital signals in addition to their regular VHF or UHF broadcasts, this is not yet as widespread as in the United States, with only a few digital broadcasters currently available. Digital television sets are available in Canadian stores, but are not widely owned by consumers at this time.
Cable is a very common method of television programming delivery in Canada. Many Canadian cities have cable penetration rates of 90 per cent or more of television households.
There are currently 739 licensed cable distributors in Canada. This is a significant decline from over 2000 just a few years ago, which is attributable both to major cable companies acquiring smaller distributors and to a recent change in CRTC rules by which independent cable operators in small communities are no longer required to operate under CRTC licenses.
Major Canadian cable companies include Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Videotron, Persona and EastLink. Most Canadian cities are served by only one cable company per market. However, two major companies offer direct-to-home (DTH) satellite delivery as an alternative to cable: ExpressVu, which is a division of BCE Inc, and Star Choice, which is a division of Shaw Cable. Grey market DTH dishes can also be obtained from American BDUs such as DirecTV and Dish Network, but as these are not licensed Canadian providers, stores that sell those packages -- and users who buy them -- are at risk of criminal charges.
In some remote communities in the Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), cable delivery is prohibitively costly, so similar services are offered through low-power repeater transmissions, which are received as if they were conventional over-the-air broadcasters. These transmitter licenses are held, however, by a corporate interest or a non-profit group in the community, not by the licensee of the originating signal as with most repeater transmitters.
A basic cable package in Canada traditionally includes:
A further set of Canadian and American special interest channels are offered as extended cable packages, which are available for additional fees. In the past, cable companies have engaged in the controversial practice of "negative option billing", in which a subscriber is automatically given and billed for the new services unless he or she specifically declines them, but this is now illegal. As well, a package of pay TV channels is also available for further fees, including movie networks and American superstations (which are often WB or UPN affiliates.) These services, however, require a descrambler box.
Cable companies now offer digital cable packages in most Canadian cities, including a number of channels which have been licensed exclusively for digital package distribution. Many cable companies also offer high speed cable Internet service.
Although this is sometimes controversial, Canadian cable companies are required by the CRTC to practice simultaneous substitution when a Canadian channel and a non-Canadian channel (which is usually American) are airing the same program at the same time.
Canada is served by almost 2000 radio stations, on both the AM and FM bands.
Major commercial radio broadcast groups in Canada include Rogers, Corus, Standard Broadcasting, CHUM Limited and Newcap. However, many smaller broadcasters operate radio stations as well. Most genres of music are represented on the Canadian commercial radio spectrum, including pop, rock, hip-hop, country, jazz and classical. News, sports, talk radio and religious stations are also available in many cities. In addition, many Canadian universities and colleges have licensed student radio stations, and a few communities also have stations licensed to non-profit community cooperatives.
As well, the publicly-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation operates four national radio networks, two each in English and French. The English Radio One and the French Première Chaîne provide news and information programming to most communities in Canada, regardless of size, on either the AM or FM band. The English Radio Two and French Chaîne culturelle provide arts and culture programming, including classical music and opera, and are always on FM, generally serving larger communities only.
Music-based commercial radio stations in Canada are mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to reserve at least 35 per cent of their playlists for Canadian musical artists, although exemptions are granted in some border cities (eg. Windsor, Ontario) where the competition from American stations threatens the survival of Canadian broadcasters, and for stations whose musical format involves classical, jazz or predominantly older pop music (formats where there may simply not be enough Canadian recordings available to meet the 35 per cent target).
In recent years, a notable trend in Canadian radio has been the gradual abandonment of the AM band, with more and more AM stations applying for and receiving authorization from the CRTC to convert to the FM band. In some Canadian cities, in fact, the AM band is now either nearly or entirely vacant.
Digital audio broadcasting, or DAB, is an emerging technology in Canada. Although there are currently 73 licensed digital audio broadcasters in Canada, not many consumers yet own digital radios, and the existing digital audio broadcast signals duplicate AM or FM broadcasts. No Canadian radio broadcaster currently offers an exclusively DAB signal.
Almost Canadian cities are served by at least one daily newspaper, along with community and neighbourhood weeklies. In large cities which have more than one daily newspaper, usually at least one daily is a tabloid format. Bilingual cities like Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario have important papers in both French and English.
Canada currently has two major national newspapers, the Globe and Mail and the National Post. The newspaper with the highest circulation is, however, the Toronto Star.
Canadian newspapers are mostly owned by large chains. The largest of these is the Southam chain, owned by CanWest. In Quebec many of the papers are owned by Quebecor, which also owns the Sun series of tabloids across the country.
At various times there have been concerns about concentration of newspaper ownership, most recently when Conrad Black's Hollinger acquired the Southam newspapers in the late 1990s. When Hollinger sold its Canadian properties, however, many of their smaller-market newspapers were in fact purchased by a variety of new ownership groups, increasing the diversity of newspaper ownership for the first time in many years.
Of all Canadian cultural industries, film has the hardest time escaping the shadow of its American counterpart. Between the marketing budgets of American films, and the largely American-controlled film distribution networks, it has been nearly impossible for most English Canadian films to break through to a wide audience. In many Canadian cities, in fact, moviegoers don't even have the option of seeing Canadian films, as there aren't any theatres showing them. As a result, a Canadian film is usually considered a runaway hit if it makes as little as $1 million at the box office.
French Canadian films, on the other hand, are often more successful -- as with French-language television, the language difference makes Quebec audiences much more receptive to Canadian-produced film. In most years, the top-grossing Canadian film is a French-language film from Quebec.
As a result of the economic challenges involved in Canadian film production, film funding is often provided by government bodies such as Telefilm Canada, and CBC television is often a Canadian film's most lucrative potential market. However, there is an established network of film festivals which also provide important marketing and audience opportunities for Canadian films. The most famous of these, the Toronto International Film Festival, is considered one of the most important events in North American film, with many Hollywood films clamouring for screen time as well. However, film festivals in Vancouver, British Columbia, Montreal, Quebec and Greater Sudbury, Ontario, among other cities, are also important opportunities for Canadian filmmakers to gain exposure among more populist film audiences.
Alliance Atlantis has become by far the largest and most successful Canadian film studio, both as a film and television production house (the company's television properties include Due South and C.S.I), and as the major Canadian distributor of independent American and international films. Lions Gate has also become a major player in recent years.
For all the challenges, however, quite a few Canadian films have succeeded in making a cultural impact. Some of the most famous Canadian films include:
One particular film production house, the National Film Board of Canada, has become internationally famous for its animation and documentary production.
See also: Canadian literatureCable Television
NOTE: the other private French network, TQS, is available on cable in Quebec and in some bilingual communities elsewhere in Canada, but does not have mandatory national carriage as TVA does
NOTE: as a rule WB and UPN do not have basic cable carriage rights, although some border cities which have access to those networks over the air have been allowed to include those stations in basic cable packages on a case-by-case basis
NOTE: the CRTC rules are that cable companies cannot offer a new American service if a comparable Canadian service already exists. However, if a Canadian equivalent begins operations after an American service has already been added to cable packages, the cable company is not required to discontinue the American serviceRadio Broadcasting
Newspapers
Motion Pictures
Canadian film tends to be much more director-driven than star-driven, and has much more in common with the European auteur model of filmmaking than with the Hollywood star system. Directors such as David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Patricia Rozema, Denys Arcand, John Greyson and Robert Lepage are often the real star power of their films, more than the actors they cast.Book and Magazine Publishing
