Shaw’s loss of customers concerns analyst
TORONTO — Shaw Communications Inc. continues to shed cable customers under pressure from its aggressive Western rival and analysts warn making up the difference with price hikes can only last so long.
Calgary-based Shaw revealed Tuesday it lost almost 30,000 basic cable subscribers and 9,000 satellite-television customers in the three months to Nov. 30.
When Telus Corp. reported third-quarter results in November, it said it added 34,000 television subscribers.
Chief executive Brad Shaw said an overlap in market footprint with Telus is a contributing factor in Shaw’s cable customer losses.
“We still continue to have an aggressive competitor in Western Canada that offers iPads and televisions on a subscription basis,” he said Tuesday, noting Shaw is not willing to offer the same kind of expensive inducements to gain new subscribers.
Shaw added 2,746 Internet subscribers and 1,351 land line phone subscribers in the quarter.
Desjardins Securities analyst Maher Yaghi said Shaw, overall, met profitability expectations. “We continue to believe increased competitive pressures are of concern and continuous ARPU (average revenue per user) increases will be difficult to implement each year to offset subscriber losses,” he said.
Shaw had revenue of $1.36 billion, up 3.3 per cent from $1.32 billion a year ago. Net income was $245 million, or 51 cents per share, compared with $235 million, or 50 cents, a year earlier.