CALGARY – Shaw Communications said that a syndicate of lenders have provided a US$395 million term loan and a US$85 million revolving credit facility for its new data centre firm ViaWest.
The facilities were used to repay the outstanding debt under ViaWest's prior credit facility and for its general corporate purposes. The term loan matures in March 2022 and the revolving credit facility matures in March 2020.
Shaw bought the Denver-based colocation, cloud, and managed services provider last July for US$1.2 billion.
www.shaw.ca
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SEATTLE and TORONTO – Popular online video publishing and video management solutions provider thePlatform is providing the back-end video management for Rogers’ and Shaw’s subscription video-on-demand service shomi.
An independent subsidiary of Comcast, thePlatform’s cloud-based mpx video management system provides several back-end functions for shomi. Specifically, mpx provides easy workflow management of video ingest; metadata management; subscriber management and viewing rights enforcement; and automated publishing across device and video player profiles, says a press release the company put out this morning.
“Shomi has raised the bar for multiscreen video entertainment for Canadian viewers,” said Marty Roberts, co-CEO of thePlatform,…
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TORONTO – Doug Murphy officially assumed the role of president and CEO Corus Entertainment on Monday, replacing the retiring John Cassaday.
Murphy, pictured, joined Corus in 2003 and has held numerous senior management positions at the company, most recently as EVP and COO with responsibility for the company’s television and radio divisions. Previously, he was EVP and president of Corus Television; EVP and GM of Corus Kids; and president of Nelvana and Nelvana Enterprises. Before joining Corus, Murphy spent 10 years with the Walt Disney Company in a variety of senior executive positions in Canada, the United States and Japan.
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NEW YORK and TORONTO – Shaw Media’s History has picked up a fourth season of the acclaimed drama series Vikings.
The renewal comes with five episodes remaining in the series’ third season, which airs Thursdays at 10:00 PM ET/PT.
Vikings tells the extraordinary tales of the lives and epic adventures of these warriors and portrays life in the Dark Ages through the eyes of Viking society. The gripping family saga of Ragnar (Travis Fimmel), Rollo (Clive Standen), Lagertha (Canadian Katheryn Winnick) and Bjorn (Canadian Alexander Ludwig) continues in season three as alliances and loyal friendships are questioned, faith is catechized and…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media and Shaftesbury’s digital studio Smokebomb Entertainment have joined forces with brand agency shift2 and Schick Quattro for Women on MsLabelled, a new fashion-focused multiplatform comedy series aimed at female millennials.
Designed to run both online and on air, MsLabelled is a witty, vlog-style series set in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of fashion. The 20 x four-minutes series features and is executive produced by Jeanne Beker, and stars Rebecca Liddiard as Ella (pictured), a young fashionista who tries to find her own voice in the industry by launching an upstart fashion blog, after landing a job at…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s publicly traded television service providers combined lost a record 65,000 TV subscribers in their respective 2014 fiscal years (November 30/December 31, 2013 to November 30/December 31, 2014), up sharply from just a few hundred lost in their 2013 fiscal years, according to a new report released today
New research from Ottawa-based research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services also shows that the publicly traded TV service providers lost 21,380 TV subscribers combined in their 2014 fiscal fourth quarters, almost double the 11,323 lost in the same periods in 2013.
“The trend continues to show the…
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GATINEAU – There are always some interesting figures which emerge with the publishing of the annual aggregate returns of the large carriers and broadcasters by the CRTC.
Below are a few highlights from the data filed by Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV companies (we’ll look at the conventional TV, pay and specialty and radio numbers later) for the broadcast year ended August 31, 2014.
Of the subscriber losses suffered by the large, established TV carriers (cable and satellite brands Rogers Cable, Shaw Cable, Shaw Direct, Videotron, Bell Satellite TV, Cogeco Cable and Eastlink) almost all went to…
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OTTAWA – While some have yet to react and others have decried the CRTC’s decisions today on the carriage portion of the Commission’s TV Policy Review, the overall reaction has ranged from generally positive to indifferent. Bell Canada and Quebecor Media have chosen not to respond as yet.
Shaw Communications president and CEO Brad Shaw:
“We support the Government’s direction and the Commission’s commitment to maximize choice for Canadians – as citizens, producers, and consumers. We are pleased that the Commission has built on the foundation of previous Talk TV decisions to support a bold yet balanced and orderly policy framework…
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OTTAWA – Announcing the most recent round of Let’s Talk TV decisions last week, CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais spoke about the need to create fewer, higher quality Canadian TV shows instead of a larger number of mixed quality television – and to build a more sustainable production sector populated by larger, well-capitalized firms.
In essence, he was saying less is more. However, those who make the shows believe, conversely, less will only lead to less.
Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86, released on March 12, made a number of significant changes to Canadian content rules. Chief among…
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CALGARY – Shaw has launched the WWE Network, just in time for Wrestlemania 31.
Available immediately for Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct customers, the subscription-based network offers premium wrestling programming, including all 12 live WWE pay-per-view events, original series and documentaries and exclusive on-demand content for $11.99 per month.
Shaw customers who subscribe to the WWE network also get access to the WWE App. Available online and for download on mobile devices, the WWE App features 24/7 streaming of scheduled WWE programming, an on-demand library, and provides subscribers with an exclusive second screen companion experience while watching WWE Network programs on…
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