Interesting LaPresse piece on how several specialized sports channels have incurred pretty significant losses.
The piece mentions how many subscribers have been "cord cutting" by drifting away from sports channels and favoring streaming options instead.
It will also surprise no one that almost 50% of those who are aged 30 or younger, are not at all subscribed to specialized channels.
RDS and TVA have each lost 8.5% of their subscribers over the past year.
TVA in particular is sustaining massive losses: $21 million plus pre-tax losses both over the last year and the year prior.
RDS's revenues dropped by almost 50% when compared to the year prior: last year's pre-tax earnings stood at 13.7M vs. 26.7M the year prior.
This stat is pretty telling: between 2015-18, RDS lost 611,000 subscribers (a loss of 19.4% of its subscribing base) while TVA Sports lost 332K subscribers representing a loss of 16.7% of its subscribers.
While the cord cutting phenomena is affecting all specialized channels, it has been hitting sports channels the most.
La perte d'abonnés fait mal à RDS et à TVA Sports | VINCENT BROUSSEAU-POULIOT | Médias
I doubt any of these revenue losses will eventually translate into a lesser take for sports teams like the Habs which is getting $60M in broadcast rights revenues from RDS and almost $60M from TVA Sports, as per the above article. These losses will probably translate to higher subscription fees down the line.
Can't wait for that to happen. I'm going to do some cord-cutting too.
Article also mentions how Sportsnet saw a rise in its profits last year from $106M to $131M. TSN on the other hand, incurred losses, from $118M the year before to $80M last year.
However, the article mentions how both Sportsnet and TSN have also lost subscribers in the past year: a loss of 4.7% of their subscribers for Sportsnet and a loss of 4% for TSN.