Shaw Communications

Infobox_Company
company_name = Shaw Communications Inc.
company_
company_type = Public (tsx|SJR.B nyse|SJR)
company_slogan =
foundation = 1966 (as the Capital Cable Television Co. Ltd.)
1984 (as Shaw Cablesystems Ltd.) flagicon|Canada Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
location = flagicon|Canada Calgary, Alberta, Canada
key_people = J.R. Shaw (Chairman) Peter J. Bissonnette (President) [ [http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/InvestorRelations/CorporateGovernance/Executive+Team.htm Leadership] ]
industry = telecommunications
products = cable television, high speed internet, telephone
revenue = profit $2.4 billion CAD (2006)
net_income = profit $464.4 million CAD (2006)
num_employees = 9,000 (2008)cite web |url=http://zenobank.com/index.php?symbol=SJR&page=quotesearch |title=Company Profile for Shaw Communications Inc (SJR) |accessdate=2008-10-09]
market c

homepage = [http://www.shaw.ca/ www.shaw.ca] company that provides telephone, internet and television services. Shaw is Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. It provides services mostly in B.C. and Alberta with smaller systems in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Western Ontario.

History

Shaw was founded as "Capital Cable Television Co. Ltd." in Edmonton, Alberta in 1966. [cite web |url=http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/AboutShaw/ShawCompanies/History/Milestones.htm |title=Milestones|accessdate=2008-09-03|publisher=Shaw Communications Inc.|date=2008-09-03 ] The company changed its name to Shaw Cablesystems Ltd. and went public on the TSX in 1983. The company grew during the 1980s and 1990s through acquisitions of firms including Classicomm in the Toronto area, Access Communications in Nova Scotia, Fundy Cable in New Brunswick, Trillium Cable in Ontario, Telecable in Saskatchewan, and Videon Cablesystems of Winnipeg, which had itself previously acquired Vidéotron's assets in Alberta. However, two swaps, in 1994 and 2001, with Rogers Cable have resulted in its assets being restricted to western Canada and a few areas of northern Ontario. [ [http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/AboutShaw/ShawCompanies/History/Milestones.htm#1=Shaw Milestones] ]

Other Activities

Shaw is also the parent of Shaw Broadcast Services (previously Shaw Satellite Services, Canadian Satellite Communications, or Cancom) and, through Shaw Broadcast Services [ [http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/AboutShaw/ShawCompanies/ShawBroadcastServices.htm Shaw Broadcast Services] ] , Star Choice, one of Canada's two national direct broadcast satellite providers. For many years it also owned a number of radio stations and specialty television services; these assets were later spun off into Corus Entertainment in an effort to satisfy a now-repealed Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) policy discouraging cross-ownership of cablesystems and specialty services.

Current Issues

Shaw has only recently entered the phone market with its "Digital Phone" product, and has been successful in taking customers away from Telus, the local incumbent phone carrier in western Canada [ [http://www.marketnews.ca/news_archive_detail.asp?nid=535 Shaw Digital Phone Launch] ] . However, Telus has entered in to Shaw's home territory of television and is taking customers from it [ [http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=7390cca3-d801-4389-af97-45f11ade5f93&k=24440] Telus TV] . The companies have competed for years over their internet products.In 2008, Shaw entered the Advanced Wireless Spectrum auction with the intention of possibly becoming a cellphone provider. The auction completed at the end of July 2008, where Shaw Communications obtained enough spectrum to build a wireless network in its home provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. [ [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=f5a7a0de-69fc-45d9-9dc5-07e14d362cd1 Wireless spectrum auction] ]

Current Television Offerings

Shaw has been slowly expanding its television offerings over the last few years, with most of the increases occurring in the HDTV part of the dial. In 2008, Shaw added "Speed HD", "Encore Avenue 3 HD", "TLC HD", and "Super Channel 1 HD". Unfortunately, both "TLC" and "Speed" are only rebroadcasts of the standard definition cousins and don't offer entirely high-definition content. However, there are packages of full-HD channels such as those offered by High Fidelity HDTV, which offer entirely high-definition content and have not yet been picked up by Shaw. It has no previous customer base for these channels.Fact|date=August 2008

Eponymous buildings

* Shaw Tower, Vancouver
* Shaw Barlow, Calgary
* Shaw Court, Calgary
* Shaw Conference Centre, Edmonton [ [http://www.shawconferencecentre.com/welcome.asp Shaw Conference Centre] ]
* Shaw Centre, Saskatoon

Gallery

ee also

* Shaw TV
* Classicomm
* SANAR (Self-Aware Network Advanced Research) | SANAR Facility.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.shaw.ca/ Shaw Communications Inc.]
* [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/ownership/eng/title_org.htm#S CRTC chart of Shaw Communications' assets]