Shaw pitches new service as ‘best-in-class’ television

COMCAST TIE-UP

a move that will result in a $475-million to $525-million writedown. It will roll out the new technology in 2018.

The adoption of Comcast’s platform comes as cable companies lose subscribers to traditional telephone companies BCE Inc. in Eastern Canada and Telus Corp. in the west, stealing market share with their superior IPTV services, Fibe TV and Optic TV.

In the first nine months of 2016, Shaw and Rogers respectively lost 98,000 and 63,000 TV subscribers while Telus and Bell gained 38,000 and 7,000, respectively.

Comcast posted a net gain of 170,000 customers last year, the first time its done so in the roughly eight years since launching the platform, technology and product president Tony Werner said in a joint interview with Shaw president Jay Mehr on Wednesday.

“It’s IPTV, but it’s a lot more than that,” Werner said, adding it uses cloud-based software that allows Comcast to make changes to its offerings on the fly. The voice remote has been a “huge success” with usage expected to double in 2017, he said, and the platform can be used for Internet of Things applications such as turning up a thermostat.

Mehr said the new TV product will help bring cord cutters, cord shavers and cord nevers back into the cable system. “This for sure is a differentiated video product,” he said, noting the variety of applications available including Netflix.

He wouldn’t say exactly when he expects Shaw to quell subscriber losses, but said he expects it will gain traction more quickly than Comcast did. “It won’t take us that long,” Mehr said.