Shaw Communications

Shaw Communications Inc.
Company type	Public (until 2023)
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1966; 60 years ago in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Founder	JR Shaw
Defunct	2023
Fate	Acquired and merged into Rogers Communications
Headquarters	Calgary, Canada
Area served	Western Canada (Alberta, British Columbia), parts of Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, national satellite TV coverage
Key people	JR Shaw (founder)
Products	Telephone, Internet, television, mobile services (through Freedom Mobile)
Number of employees	14,000 (as of 2015)

Shaw Communications Inc. was a Canadian telecom provider delivering services in telephone, Internet, television, and mobile sectors. Established in 1966 by JR Shaw in Edmonton under the name Capital Cable Television Company, Ltd., it was acquired and integrated into Rogers Communications in 2023. Following the merger, most of Shaw’s operations transitioned to the Rogers brand, with a temporary marketing phase using the Rogers together with Shaw identity.

At the time of acquisition, Shaw's primary market consisted of residential telecommunications customers in Alberta and British Columbia, alongside national satellite TV coverage and smaller cable networks in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northern Ontario.

Its mobile division operated through the subsidiary Freedom Mobile, offering services under both Freedom and Shaw Mobile brands across Alberta, British Columbia, and Southern Ontario. Freedom Mobile was sold to Vidéotron simultaneously with the Rogers merger. In western Canada’s residential telecom market, Shaw’s principal rival was Telus Communications.

History

In 1966, JR Shaw founded the company initially named Capital Cable Television Company, Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta. This entity began as a subsidiary of Shawcor, a firm owned by JR’s father, before separating from Shawcor during the 1970s. The company rebranded as Shaw Cablesystems Ltd. and went public on the TSX in 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Shaw grew through acquisitions including Classicomm (Toronto), Access Communications (Nova Scotia), Fundy Cable (New Brunswick), Trillium Cable (Ontario), Telecable (Saskatchewan), Greater Winnipeg Cablevision, and Videon Cablesystems of Winnipeg, which had previously acquired Vidéotron’s assets in Alberta. Two asset exchanges with Rogers Cable in 1994 and 2001 resulted in Shaw focusing primarily on operations within Western Canada and portions of Northern Ontario. In 1999, Shaw separated its media holdings into the publicly traded company Corus Entertainment. In 2001, it purchased Videon Cablesystems from the Moffat family.

Prior to 2003, Shaw owned cable systems in six Florida communities and suburbs around Houston, Texas; these were divested in 2003 to Time Warner Cable and Cequel III (now known as Suddenlink Communications) respectively.

During the 2008 AWS spectrum auction, Shaw acquired wireless spectrum intended for network development across its core provinces; however, this spectrum remained unused and was sold to Rogers Communications in January 2013.

In July 2009, Shaw announced plans to acquire Mountain Cablevision. Rogers initiated legal action to prevent the acquisition citing a non-compete agreement, but the lawsuit was dismissed. The CRTC approved the purchase in October 2009, marking Shaw’s return to cable operations east of Sault Ste. Marie after earlier asset swaps in the early 2000s. Nonetheless, Shaw’s presence in Southern Ontario was short-lived; it sold the Hamilton system to Rogers in January 2013 as part of a transaction that also included transferring unused wireless spectrum to Rogers and Rogers relinquishing its stake in specialty channel TVtropolis.

Resumption of broadcasting

On April 30, 2009, Shaw revealed an agreement to purchase three television stations from CTVglobemedia: CHWI-TV in Windsor, Ontario, CKNX-TV in Wingham, Ontario, and CKX-TV in Brandon, Manitoba. These stations were slated for closure by CTV due to financial losses unless a buyer was found, with each listed at a nominal price of $1. Nevertheless, Shaw withdrew from this acquisition on June 30, 2009. While CHWI-TV continued operations, CKNX-TV was converted into a repeater for London’s CFPL-TV in September 2009, and CKX-TV ceased broadcasting in October 2009.

In February 2010, Shaw reached an agreement to acquire an 80% voting interest and a 20% equity share in the reorganized Canwest, subject to regulatory approval. By May of that year, Shaw opted to buy all of Canwest’s broadcast holdings, including its interest in CW Media, excluding the newspaper assets which were sold separately to Postmedia Network. This transaction was finalized on October 27, 2010, following approval from the CRTC, resulting in the creation of the Shaw Media division.

2012–2023

In November 2012, Shaw unveiled a refreshed brand identity featuring a new logo and the slogan "You won't miss a thing," accompanied by a marketing campaign starring animated robot mascots Bit and Bud. This initiative drew parallels to Bell Canada’s earlier mascot campaign managed by Shaw’s former Chief Marketing Officer Jim Little.

April 2013 marked Shaw Business Solutions’ acquisition of Enmax's Envision fibre-optic network throughout Calgary for $225 million. The following year, Shaw joined forces with Rogers Communications to introduce Shomi, a subscription-based video-on-demand platform.

In February 2015, Shaw streamlined its customer service operations by consolidating call centres from Edmonton, Calgary, and Kelowna into offices located in Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Montreal. This restructuring affected around 1,600 of its 14,000 employees who were given options to relocate or accept severance packages.

Shaw encountered challenges developing its original IPTV platform which led to a $55 million impairment charge in June 2015. Subsequently, the company licensed Comcast’s cloud-based Xfinity X1 system. In January 2016, Shaw launched FreeRange TV—a mobile application allowing subscribers to stream live and on-demand content utilizing the X1 platform. On January 11, 2017, Shaw introduced its X1-powered cable service branded "BlueSky" in Calgary and later adopted Comcast's Xfinity xFi whole-home Wi-Fi technology under the "BlueCurve" brand.

Freedom Mobile and media asset divestiture

On December 16, 2015, Shaw announced the acquisition of independent wireless carrier Wind Mobile for roughly $1.6 billion. The transaction closed on March 1, 2016; Wind Mobile was rebranded as Freedom Mobile in November that year alongside the rollout of its 4G LTE network. Financing this purchase involved transferring the Shaw Media division to Corus Entertainment in April 2016 for $1.85 billion in cash plus over 71 million non-voting Corus shares. The deal excluded Shaw’s half-interest in the Shomi streaming service and CJBN-TV Kenora; both were discontinued by early 2017.

Acquisition by Rogers

On March 15, 2021, Rogers declared plans to acquire Shaw for $26 billion pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. This proposal faced opposition from advocacy groups such as OpenMedia.ca, who raised concerns over diminished competition within Canada’s wireless sector.

The CRTC mandated that Rogers divest Freedom Mobile for approval to proceed. On June 17, 2022, Quebecor announced intentions to purchase Freedom Mobile for $2.85 billion. The CRTC granted approval for the merger on March 24, 2022.

Nonetheless, on May 9, 2022, the Competition Bureau sought to block the deal citing negative effects on wireless market competition. Rogers anticipated closing the merger by late 2022; however, on October 25 it was rejected as initially proposed. Canada's Federal Court of Appeal subsequently permitted the merger to move forward on January 24, 2023.

The federal government authorized the transaction on March 31, 2023; it was completed on April 3. Following completion, Shaw Communications was merged into Rogers Communications and ceased operating as an independent entity although certain subsidiaries such as Shaw Cablesystems continue as separate legal entities.

Other operations

Shaw served as the parent organization for Shaw Broadcast Services (previously known as Shaw Satellite Services, Canadian Satellite Communications, or Cancom), which operates Shaw Direct, one of the two nationwide direct broadcast satellite providers in Canada. The company formerly held ownership of various radio stations and specialty TV channels, which were later divested into Corus Entertainment to adhere to a CRTC regulation—now repealed—that discouraged the combined ownership of cable networks and specialty channels.

Internet usage-based billing

In December 2010, Shaw lodged formal complaints with the CRTC aiming to have internet streaming platforms such as Netflix recognized as broadcasters under Canadian legislation. Concurrently, Shaw implemented usage-based billing on its internet services, decreasing data limits by approximately 25% and imposing additional charges ranging from $1 to $2 per gigabyte for data used beyond the cap. Nevertheless, on February 8, 2011, Shaw consented to halt the application of usage-based billing and has since avoided imposing fees on customers for surpassing their data allowances.

Buildings bearing the Shaw name

Shaw Court, Calgary (corporate headquarters)
Shaw Tower, Vancouver
Shaw Centre, Ottawa
Shaw Park, Winnipeg (named from November 2010 until November 2023)
Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea, a non-profit cultural and educational facility supported by Shaw Communications in Sidney, British Columbia

External links

CRTC chart detailing Shaw Communications' holdings
(Rogers)