CALGARY – While not entirely applying the brakes, Shaw Communications confirmed Wednesday that it is slowing down the construction of its new wireless cellphone network, despite investing $42.1 million in the initiative in this quarter alone.
That was just one of the surprises from new CEO Brad Shaw while announcing the company’s second quarter financial results. He also confirmed that approximately 550 employee positions were eliminated last month, including 150 at the management level.
But the news wasn’t all bad. Consolidated revenue for the second quarter ended February 28, 2011 was $1.20 billion, up 28.8% over the comparable period last year, which…
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CALGARY – Beginning April 6, Shaw Digital Cable and Shaw Direct customers will be able to access live 3D coverage of the 2011 Masters.
"In the past year, we’ve brought a number of best-in-class sports programming to our customers in 3D including the World Cup, Heritage Classic and Winter Classic," said Peter Bissonnette, president, Shaw Communications, in a press release. "As entertainment continues to trend toward larger than life screens, we’re able to stay ahead of the curve in being able to deliver world-class High Definition quality to our customers."
(No word though on how many – or few – Shaw…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC must give broadcasters the flexibility to compete against over the top (OTT) competitors such as Netflix, Google and Hulu, Shaw Media told the CRTC during the third day of the group-based licence renewal hearing.
“The threat today from over-the-top television is alarming,” said Paul Robertson, group VP of broadcasting and president of Shaw Media. “It stems from major structural shifts in technology and rights exploitation that are permanently reshaping the global broadcast landscape.”
Emerging OTT services have maintained that they aren’t competitive with existing broadcasters, but Shaw says nothing could be further from the truth….
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MONTREAL – Shaw Direct has become the latest operator to offer the Galaxie on-line music player to its customers.
Available now as part of Shaw Direct’s new on-line video-on-demand (VOD) library, the service allows users to stream their choice of the same 40 Galaxie channels currently available on Shaw Direct, view the album cover art of the current, next and previously played songs, or check a list of the songs played in the past 24 hours.
“Galaxie has been the preferred source of music for Canadians for more than 12 years and every day our listeners ask us how…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media’s new Global Video app is now available at the iTunes store for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
The free app offers Canadian viewers access to some of Global Television’s prime time content, including full episodes of House, The Good Wife, NCIS: LA, The Office, Rookie Blue and Survivor, plus previous broadcasts of Global National and 16:9:The Bigger Picture.
"To date, with our Global Video App for iPad, users have viewed more than one million shows”, said Shaw president Peter Bissonnette, in the announcement. “By carrying our content over to iPhone and iPod, we are extending our…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications made its first significant restructuring move under new CEO Brad Shaw on Wednesday, letting more than 500 people go.
“About 150 were VP, director, supervisor, that sort of level,” company president Peter Bissonnette told Cartt.ca. “It was just over 500.” The payroll reduction will result in $30-$40 million in annual savings, he added.
The hardest hit areas were Calgary, where approximately 150 were let go; the Vancouver area, with about 100 cuts (including the closure of the company’s Langley warehouse); and Saskatoon, where a 58-person call centre is being shuttered (traffic to that call centre will…
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CALGARY – Shaw Direct has launched a new on-line video-on-demand (VOD) library allowing customers to watch hundreds of movies and TV shows on their Internet-connected computers anywhere in Canada.
By visiting VOD.SHAWDIRECT.CA, customers may select TV shows from HGTV, Food Network and History Channel; new release movies from Universal Studios, Maple Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); or music programming from one of 40 on-line channels available on the Galaxie Broadband Player. In addition, customers with Movie Central as part of their TV package can watch its movies and shows at no additional charge.
"The entertainment landscape is changing and more…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media is building a new internal digital sales team after it transitions broadcast sales over from Postmedia Network, the company said Monday. The team will be headed up by Graeme Mackrell, who has been with Shaw Media for over 14 years.
“As digital increasingly becomes an important part of our clients marketing campaigns, we want to ensure that we have strong expertise in-house to work with our Sales and Marketing Ventures teams” said Errol Da-Ré, SVP of sales for Shaw Media, in a statement. “This will allow us to deliver highly integrated solutions across all platforms in…
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CALGARY – Shaw has rolled out a new service that allows customers to customize their home entertainment services by choosing only the features that they love and want.
With the Shaw Plan Personalizer, customers purchase a core home entertainment and communications package that can includes Internet, digital TV (including HD channels at no additional cost), hardware options and a home phone plan, and then customize the plan exactly how they want it.
"Our customers are telling us they want more choice, more value and more freedom to choose what’s important to them," said president Peter Bissonnette in Tuesday’s announcement. “We listened, and…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications recently added a couple of new executives, one to oversee its wireless push, and promoted a pair of others.
The company has named Jay Mehr to senior vice president, operations for Shaw Communications with responsibility for all of Shaw’s distribution activities including Shaw Cable, Shaw Business, Shaw Satellite and Shaw Wireless.
Cam Kernahan has been promoted to group vice president, wireless and business with responsibility for Shaw’s wireless product launch and the Shaw Business organization.
Jim Pitt has been hired as vice president, operations – wireless (he replaces Lawrence Cooke, with whom Shaw parted ways in January). Pitt…
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