LOS ANGELES – The Canadian cable TV industry was out in force at the Los Angeles JW Marriott Tuesday night to honour industry pioneer JR Shaw, who was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame with five others.
Ted Rogers was the first Canadian inducted, back in 2002. Shaw joins an illustrious list of cable leaders, from Ted Turner and John Malone to Brian Roberts and Gerry Levin.
The rest of the 2010 class included Pennsylvania cable pioneer Yolanda Barco, retired Scientific Atlanta EVP Allen Ecker, Atlanta Braves CEO and former TBS CEO Terry McGuirk, Falcon Cable and Mapleton Investments’ founder Marc Nathanson, and AETN president and CEO Abbe Raven.
JR (right) launched Capital Cable in Edmonton in 1971 with a bare minimum of channels, eventually growing to a national cable operation through the 1980s, eventually settling out west (mostly) on the cable side in the 1990s. With its Shaw Direct Satellite service, the company has about 3.2 million video customers to go with its very highly penetrated Internet and phone service.
Pictured below are just a few of the Canadians we found at the Hall of Fame ceremony last night in Los Angeles.
Photos by Greg O’Brien
CTV CEO Ivan Fecan and Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw chat about??
Rogers Communications Phil Lind and JR Shaw.
CTV’s Rick Brace and Shaw Communications’ snappiest dresser Peter Bissonnette.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
From left: Shaw’s Jean Brazeau with CTV’s Paul Sparkes and Kevin Goldstein.
Fox Cable Networks Hawley Chester (left) with Shaw EVP Brad Shaw.
From left: Pelmorex Media’s Luc Perreault and Gaston Germain with Stingray Digital’s Eric Boyko.
CTV’s Ian Spencer with Rovi’s Jeff Dancey.
