Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications Inc. (often abbreviated to Shaw; /ˌʃɒ/ SH-aw) was a Canadian telecommunications company which provided telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. The company was founded in 1966 as Capital Cable Television Company, Ltd. by JR Shaw in Edmonton. The company was acquired by and amalgamated into Rogers Communications in 2023; most operations were rebranded to the Rogers brand beginning in July of that year, although they are still operational.
Formerly
Capital Cable Television Company, Ltd. (1966–1983)
Shaw Cablesystems Ltd. (1983–1993)
April 3, 2023
Acquired and amalgamated; operations rebranded beginning July 2023
Cable television, high speed internet, telephone, satellite television, network and specialty broadcasting, logistics tracking, radio
CAD $2.161 billion (2019)[1]
CAD $986 million (2021)[3]
9,500 (2020)
Shawcor (1966-1970s)
Freedom Mobile (2015–2023)
Shaw Mobile (Acquired by Rogers Wireless)
At the time of its acquisition by Rogers, Shaw provided home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and British Columbia and satellite television nationally. It also operated smaller cable television systems in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northern Ontario.
The company also provided mobile services through its subsidiary Freedom Mobile, under both the Freedom and Shaw Mobile brands, in areas of Alberta, British Columbia, and Southern Ontario; Freedom was sold to Vidéotron simultaneously with the Rogers merger. The company's chief competitor for home telecommunications in western Canada was Telus Communications.
Subsequent to the merger, the former Shaw website has used the branding 'Rogers, together with Shaw', with a similar design to Rogers' main website.
Other activities[edit]
Shaw was the parent of Shaw Broadcast Services (previously Shaw Satellite Services, Canadian Satellite Communications, or Cancom) and, through Shaw Broadcast Services,[55] Shaw Direct, 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specialty television services; these assets were later spun off into Corus Entertainment in an effort to satisfy a now-repealed CRTC policy discouraging cross-ownership of cablesystems and specialty services.
Internet usage-based billing[edit]
In December 2010, Shaw filed complaints with the CRTC to have competing internet video services such as Netflix classified as broadcasters under Canadian law.[56] In the same month, Shaw introduced usage-based billing on internet plans and lowered plan caps an average of 25% while introducing overage fees of $1 to $2 per gigabyte.[57] On February 8, 2011, Shaw agreed to put a hold on usage-based billing for its services and to this date continues to not charge customers any overages for surpassing Internet data caps.[58]