Canadians appear to be slowly switching off conventional broadcast media and logging on to the Internet – including to watch and listen to conventional television and radio shows – says a new report on broadcasting.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s eighth annual report on the state of the industry shows that Canadians have more choices in both TV and radio media than ever before, but are watching and listening less.

But more and more Canadians have access to the Internet and high-speed Internet and using the relatively new technology for everything from research, to, ironically, watching and listening to shows they could have seen and heard on their TVs and radios.

About 70 per cent of Canadians now have access to the Internet, while the number with high-speed connections has increased from 51 per cent in 2005 to 60 per cent in 2006.

And they are connecting through their computers or on any number of devices, from cellphones to BlackBerrys.

“I think we can safely say that more Canadians are indeed switching on to the Internet, but I think we can also say that overall broadcasting in Canada is doing well in terms of diversity, and because radio revenues are up and also television revenues are up,” said Diane Maisonneuve, the senior business analyst for the regulator.

The voluminous 144-page CRTC report found that while about 30 per cent of Canadians connected to the Internet in 2005, that was up to 48 per cent in the survey conducted last December. Internet usage was highest in B.C. and lowest in Quebec.

The vast majority used the Internet for e-mail and to research information, but 29 per cent said they also watch videos, 22 per cent said they listened to radio, and six per cent said they watch television on the Internet. The types of programs watched on the Internet include television shows, news, sports and the weather.

And advertisers have noticed. Advertising revenues on the Internet in Canada totalled $1 billion in 2006, says the federal regulator, as opposed to $562 million the previous year.

While Internet access and usage seems to be up, Canadians are still watching a lot of television and listening to radio, although the report finds slight dropoffs in both conventional media.