A REPORT IN THIS morning’s Globe and Mail newspaper puts to rest any speculation about Shaw Communications being in play.
While the company’s share price has shot north of $45 recently, fuelling speculation in some quarters (again) that the company might be sold, founder and controlling shareholder JR Shaw told columnist Gordon Pitts that neither Shaw Communications nor the media company he controls, Corus Entertainment, are for sale.
Click here for the story.
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CALGARY – Continued customer growth across all its products produced improvements in consolidated service revenue, operating income, and net income at Shaw Communications.
In detailing second quarter financial results, the company also announced a dividend increase of 12% or $0.12 per share for both Class B and Class A shares.
During the quarter ending Feb. 28th, Internet and digital subscribers increased by 40,694 to 1,389,333 and by 28,641 to 725,528 respectively. Digital phone lines increased 41,721 to 292,625, basic subscribers were up 6,625 to 2,220,082, and DTH customers increased 928 to 872,562.
“We are pleased with the performance across…
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HALIFAX and VANCOUVER – Two releases within an hour of each other early Wednesday evening, one from western telco Telus and eastern incumbent Bell Aliant, say the companies have filed for local forbearance in some major metropolitan centres.
While Telus has asked for Vancouver and Edmonton, Aliant has filed for deregulation in Halifax and its surrounding regions of Hubbards, Ketch Harbour, Musquodoboit Harbour, Prospect Road, Sackville, St. Margarets, Waverley and French Village.
Aliant has asked for deregulation in Halifax, where the local cable operator has taken in excess of 35% market share, before, only to be rebuffed by the…
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CALGARY – Nearly all Shaw Cable customers will wake up with more TV channels on Thursday morning – and with their existing ones in different places.
The company said Friday it will be altering its digital and analog lineups to make room for more high definition channels as well as new sports and time-shifted specialty services.
"With more HD content, new sports networks, and additional Canadian Timeshifting channels, Shaw is confident our customers will benefit from these changes," said Peter Bissonnette, president, in the releases. "We have built our reputation of being an exceptional cable provider on solid customer…
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OTTAWA – With less than a month before the CRTC hearing into the purchase of CHUM Ltd. by CTV and rumours swirling as to who might emerge as the winning bidder for CHUM’s A-Channels (see below), the NDP says the CRTC has to set up some tough content conditions governing the combined company.
NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus said Friday "that if the CRTC is going to give the green light to this unprecedented merging of television media, clear and binding conditions must be laid down."
Angus is calling for enforceable targets for new prime time drama, for example. “Where…
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TORONTO – Through their taxes as well as their cable and satellite bills, Canadians will contribute over $242 million to Canadian TV production via the broadcast performance envelope system of the Canadian Television Fund.
More than $242 million will be injected into the Canadian television industry over the next 12 months to support programming including drama, children’s and youth, variety and performing arts and documentaries, in English and French.
The CTF allocates production funding to eligible Canadian productions through its broadcaster performance envelopes (BPEs) and its special initiatives streams. Of the CTF’s total program budget of $265 million, English-language…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications has launched its local phone service in Whalley, B.C., the company said today.
Shaw Digital Phone offers customers an alternative to the traditional home phone service. "With more than 250,000 people already experiencing Shaw Digital Phone, we are proud to expand our service to this region (just outside of Burnaby)," said company president Peter Bissonnette.
www.shaw.ca
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TORONTO – The Greater Toronto Airport Authority said Monday it will launch a new all-business news radio station from its 1280 AM frequency.
The new CFBN will replace CFYZ, which functioned as a travel information station for Canada’s largest airport.
The GTAA has hired Newsroom Productions to provide programming, sales representation and technical services for the station, which will launch April 9th.
Additionally, www.cfbnnews.com will stream programming on line.
“This is a good move for the GTAA and further enhances the services being offered to travellers and the Toronto community” said Steve Shaw, vice-president, corporate affairs for the…
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OTTAWA – Despite the CRTC’s announcement today that it has deregulated the local telephony market in Fort McMurray, Alberta – where resident have been among the keenest adopters of cable telephony – Canada’s two largest incumbent telcos remain unhappy.
Shaw Cable boasts a high speed Internet penetration rate in the city of over 80% of its basic cable customers there. Convincing those customers to add cheaper VOIP phone service has been easy so far and incumbent Telus has admitted it’s lost well over 25% market share in the community when it applied for forbearance last fall.
Today, the Commission…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications Inc. is looking for CRTC approval to carry on a digital basis USA Network, a popular U.S. channel that broadcasts blockbuster theatrical movies.
At the same time, Shaw is asking the commission to change the way foreign TV channels are put on the list of non-Canadian services eligible for carriage in Canada.
The cableco wants the CRTC to automatically approve all general interest non-Canadian services, and to allow distributors to carry channels on the eligible lists on either an analog or digital basis. Specifically, Shaw wants the commission to remove section C from the lists…
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