As the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) gathers on Parliament Hill this evening to mark its 100th anniversary, the organization has released Broadcasting in Canada 2026, a report that affirms that the private broadcasting sector is facing an existential economic reckoning.

According to the independent assessment prepared by Communications Management Inc. (CMI) for the CAB, the structural pressures documented in last year’s report have not eased. While Canadian broadcasters continue to aggressively invest in digital platforms, streaming apps, and podcasts, the underlying economics of the industry have been upended by intense competition from foreign technology giants.

“For much of the history of Canadian broadcasting, Canadian companies operated at the centre of the domestic audio and video markets,” the report states. “Today, they compete in markets increasingly dominated by some of the largest foreign technology and entertainment companies in the world.”

The data compiled by CMI illustrates the massive reallocation of capital away from Canadian media over the past two decades, including television market share, which was at 35.3% in 2025 vs. 63.1% in 2005. Television’s share of Canadian advertising dropped from 31.5% in 2005 to 10% in 2025, while private radio’s share fell from 13.7% to 4.2%.

Over the same timeframe, internet advertising surged from 5.9% to 79.7% of the market. An estimated 60% of all Canadian advertising spending now flows directly to non-Canadian media, compared to just four per cent in 2005. Emerging “retail media” networks operated by major online retailers captured $3.4 billion in Canadian ad revenue in 2025.

Radio and TV profitability under severe strain

The report shows private radio revenues fell from $1.6 billion in 2015 to $1.1 billion in 2025, with overall industry profitability (PBIT margin) dropping from 18.9% to 3.2 per cent. According to the study, 45% of private radio stations operated with negative profit margins in 2025, including 171 stations experiencing losses worse than negative 20%, placing them at severe risk of closure or cutbacks. Private radio employment also fell from 10,521 workers in 2011 to 6,174 in 2025.

In private conventional television, revenues dropped from $1.9 billion in 2015 to $1.3 billion in 2025. Over the past decade, the report says private conventional television has accumulated cumulative losses totalling $2.73 billion, with 2025 seeing a single-year loss exceeding half a billion dollars. An alarming 87% of private conventional television stations reported negative profit margins in 2025.

While private broadcasters historically relied on profits from popular American programming or profitable discretionary specialty services to prop up money-losing local news and conventional TV operations, the report says widespread cord-cutting has broken that economic model. Despite private discretionary television and conventional television previously yielding a healthy combined profit of 12.3% in 2015, that figure swung to an overall loss of -1.6 per cent by 2025.

Broader economic impact

Despite those financial headwinds, private broadcasters remain economic and cultural pillars across the country, according to the study. In 2025, the broadcasting sector’s gross output was estimated at $15.1 billion—80% of which ($12.1 billion) was generated by private broadcasting. The industry is directly and indirectly responsible for roughly 60,000 jobs, 45,700 of which are tied to private operators.

The report emphasizes that what is at stake is far more than corporate revenue.

“A newsroom that closes does not automatically return at a later date,” it stated. “A radio station that disappears from a community takes with it local voices, local employment and local knowledge. Production infrastructure that is dismantled cannot simply be recreated overnight.”

Call for regulatory modernization

As the CAB marks its centenary on Parliament Hill, the organization is pushing policymakers to reframe the debate away from an outdated “old media versus new media” narrative.

The report argues that while Canadian broadcasters carry heavy regulatory obligations to support local artists, produce domestic news, and serve remote communities, foreign tech giants face no comparable responsibilities. Modernizing the regulatory framework, the CAB contends, must go beyond adding rules to domestic players, requiring the creation of a fair, competitive environment where companies benefiting from the Canadian market make equitable contributions, alongside granting legacy broadcasters the flexibility to innovate.

“A country that values its sovereignty should also value its ability to tell its own stories, report its own news and sustain institutions that reflect Canadian communities and perspectives,” the report concluded.

“The data in this report illuminates that Canada is losing the media capacity it spent generations  building,” said Kevin Desjardins, CAB President and CEO. “Broadcasters continue to invest, innovate, and serve their communities, but they are now competing against some of the largest foreign technology and entertainment companies in the world; companies that do not share the  same responsibilities to Canadian audiences. This is not about old media versus new media. It’s about whether Canada wants to maintain the ability to tell its own stories, report its own news, and sustain the institutions that connect our communities. Modernizing the framework is essential if we want meaningful Canadian media to remain part of the future.”