Our pay-per-view future

News for media junkies: Today’s Statscan Daily reports that television had a banner year for advertising revenues in 2006. Two salient tidbits. One, the post-lockout return of the NHL has swollen the CBC’s coffers. Two, the pay-per-view segment of the industry produced the highest revenue growth and the most swollen profit margins. It took a quarter century, but pay-TV has finally caught on, so expect broadcasters to find more ways to make you pay. If only those blasted video-on-request menus weren’t so bloody slow and difficult to navigate. Attention cable and satellite companies: the first of you to integrate a search function into your service, allowing subscribers like me to find titles quickly, wins.