Canadian broadcasters' profits take a dive

February 11, 2009 Canada's TV watchdog on Wednesday reported that private Canadian broadcasters saw profits slide 93% last year from soft ad sales and the fallout of the Hollywood writers strike, which severely disrupted primetime schedules here. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said private free, over-the-air stations recorded pretax profits of CAN$8 million ($6.5 million) in 2008, down from a year-earlier CAN$112.9 million. [...] while revenue eased and profits evaporated, private TV networks spent more on U.S. programming last year to bring hits to domestic advertisers.

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