Data quality, concepts and methodology: Data quality

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The statistics presented in this publication are for the following categories of the 2007 North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS): Television Broadcasting (51512) and Pay and Specialty Television (51521).

The annual surveys on which this publication is based target all organisations licensed by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate conventional radio or television programming undertakings and specialty and pay television service operators. The survey targeting conventional broadcasters is conducted jointly by Statistics Canada and the CRTC. The Broadcast Analysis Branch of the CRTC manages the survey targeting the specialty and pay television operators. Statistics from both surveys are presented here to provide a more complete picture of the structural changes affecting this sector.

The data presented in this publication are of very good quality and can be used with confidence. This assessment is based on available data accuracy measures and the judgement of the analysts involved in this survey. These statistics are, however, subject to revision. Revisions are usually the result of late receipt of information, of re-filing by respondents of previously submitted data, or of detection of errors after publication of data. They typically do not have a material impact on the preliminary results. Past revisions accounted for less than 1% of the value for key variables such as total revenues, salaries and wages and number of employees. Users interested in learning more about the concepts, methodology and data quality of the broadcasting surveys can visit Statistics Canada’s web site at www.statcan.ca. Definitions, data sources and methods are available for most surveys. The survey title is Radio and Television Broadcasting Survey (ID 2724).