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Canadian TV Buys Lots of U.S. Shows

Canadian cable, pay TV and other niche services have survived the economic crash by bulking up on U.S. programming fare. Domestic narrowcasters in 2009 spent $521.7 million on foreign, mostly American TV fare, up 36% from 2008 expenditures to $1 billion. The biggest slice went to dramatic shows, some $302 million, the second on sports.

Part of the spike was due to the debut of HBO Canada in late 2008 by co-owners Corus Entertainment and Astral Media. In response, rival broadcasters bought popular U.S. series to offset falling ad revenue with higher subscriber revenue.

Read the whole story at The Hollywood Reporter »

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