27 replies to this topic

[AllseeingEye]

Announced today, Shaw Communications is divesting itself of the media division (includes Global TV network and various specialty channels such as the Food Network Canada etc): 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...media-1.3401473

 

Well that will pay Shaw's cost of it's December acquisition of Wind Mobile I suppose as the sale of the media group to Corus will move almost two billion in cash to Shaw Communications..

[lanforod]

Just moving it from the one hand to the other essentially. Both companies are controlled by the Shaw family.

[sdwright.vic]

Also they sold the channels... not the cable or Internet.

[Mike K.]

Correct, Corus was formed by the Shaw family.

I wonder if this was a means of inflating the value of the assets?

[dasmo]

Probably more to do with Corus being the media company and Shaw being the backbone company. Maybe they need the cash to do something with their cellular plans....

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...lysis-1.3369948

Edited by dasmo, 14 January 2016 - 04:58 AM.

[sdwright.vic]

^Yeah.... pay off its purchase price and also not have possible loses on its books from when pick and pay begins. You know sell the sinking ships, then buy back the lifeboats?

[Mike K.]

The big question is, what did Shaw pay for the assets in the first place. That will tell us all we need to know.

[dasmo]

Are these channels doing poorly? I don't consume normal TV and have always hated HGTV so I wouldn't have a feel for it....

[sdwright.vic]

I don't think any channel is doing poorly, as with the current packaging system all channels make money, no matter how crappy. When you get to pick in pay the price will either shut down the crappy ones because no one "picks" them; or the "pick price will be so high that all the crappy stuff is subsidized.

[lanforod]

I don't think any channel is doing poorly, as with the current packaging system all channels make money, no matter how crappy. When you get to pick in pay the price will either shut down the crappy ones because no one "picks" them; or the "pick price will be so high that all the crappy stuff is subsidized.

I think a few channels will go away, and not many people will miss them (which is why they'll go away, not enough viewership, so low advertising revenue). There are a lot of junk channels. I think channels like HGTV actually do quite well, there is a lot of appetite for watching home renovations and real estate shows.

[johnk]

A refocusing that brings cash (on paper) to Shaw as they expand. They just bought Wind Mobile for $1.6 billion. Shaw doesn't want to own or produce content, just transmit it.
Two different businesses so it makes sense to me.

[AllseeingEye]

A refocusing that brings cash (on paper) to Shaw as they expand. They just bought Wind Mobile for $1.6 billion. Shaw doesn't want to own or produce content, just transmit it.
Two different businesses so it makes sense to me.

Exactly they are the delivery vehicle for the content, not the content creator, which is where they want to be. Suspect we'll see some job "rationalization" as a consequence as both orgs are notorious for laying off staff. Just ask any radio people in particular re: Corus' business practices in recent years.

[johnk]

Exactly they are the delivery vehicle for the content, not the content creator, which is where they want to be. Suspect we'll see some job "rationalization" as a consequence as both orgs are notorious for laying off staff. Just ask any radio people in particular re: Corus' business practices in recent years.

Yeah, I think that one can be booked.

[Rob Randall]

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...lobal-1.4086807

 

 

Shaw television stations in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver will be shut down this summer, affecting about 70 jobs, as the company redirects funds to Global News instead.

[...]

Shaw TV stations will continue in:

• Victoria, Nanaimo and Kelowna in B.C.
• Saskatoon and Winnipeg in the Prairies.
• Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario.
• Other smaller markets.

Edited by Rob Randall, 26 April 2017 - 02:33 PM.

[AllseeingEye]

Interesting; obviously Shaw is targeting the costlier big markets to hoard as much ca$h as possible. Glad the Victoria outlet survived at least for now. I well remember its distant fore-bearer Victoria Cablevision and the original "Cable" studios on Shelbourne Street. It would be a shame to see it go dark.

[VicHockeyFan]

Interesting; obviously Shaw is targeting the costlier big markets to hoard as much ca$h as possible. Glad the Victoria outlet survived at least for now. I well remember its distant fore-bearer Victoria Cablevision and the original "Cable" studios on Shelbourne Street. It would be a shame to see it go dark.

 

Victoria was spared because they are mandated to keep it running.  New rules said they could dump it where they had other on-air assets.

[AllseeingEye]

Victoria was spared because they are mandated to keep it running.  New rules said they could dump it where they had other on-air assets.

Either way it would be a shame to see it go; most people today forget or even never knew, but at one time the lower mainland/lower island had one of if not the highest rate of cable adoption in North America, a time when many or most urban areas in Canada and the US were still using rooftop aerial antennas - which in Victoria were almost extinct even by the late 1960's due to the early adoption of cablevision.

[sdwright.vic]

^I have lived here since 2004 and watched the Shaw channel... twice. The second time confirmed I never wanted to watch again.

[AllseeingEye]

/\....agree most of the more recent stuff leaves me cold too; for obvious family reasons I preferred the early 70's days stuff, some of which was live which made for no end of entertaining TV, especially when my high school chums would call in to heckle my dad, heh.

 

I was always fascinated by the old chronometer dials they used to display time/temperature/wind direction/barometric pressure etc., during non-prime time viewing and the overnight hours. It was a mirror operated by a small motor that rotated about 120 degrees from left to right and back reflecting the images of the dials into a stationary camera. Quite ingenious for a budget-conscious operation. Took up no more room than your average home office desktop.

[Rob Randall]

Either way it would be a shame to see it go; most people today forget or even never knew, but at one time the lower mainland/lower island had one of if not the highest rate of cable adoption in North America, a time when many or most urban areas in Canada and the US were still using rooftop aerial antennas - which in Victoria were almost extinct even.

I assume people wanted to ditch their antennas because Victoria has poor line-of-sight and poor airwave reception?

 I was always fascinated by the old chronometer dials they used to display time/temperature/wind direction/barometric pressure etc., during non-prime time viewing and the overnight hours. It was a mirror operated by a small motor that rotated about 120 degrees from left to right and back reflecting the images of the dials into a stationary camera. Quite ingenious for a budget-conscious operation. Took up no more room than your average home office desktop.

I remember that! It would just pan back and forth all day. Channel 10 I assume.