Broadband wireless an ‘ever-growing opportunity’ to distribute content: Shaw

Following news Friday that Shaw will acquire a controlling stake in Canwest, Shaw president Peter Bissonnette noted the opportunities to distribute content via broadband wireless. Shaw Communications Inc. announced Friday plans to acquire a controlling stake in Canwest Global Communications Corp. In the agreement, Shaw will acquire a minimum 20 per cent equity interest and an 80 per cent voting interest in a restructured Canwest. Shaw, a Calgary cable provider and satellite-television provider, will gain access to Canwest’s conventional and specialty television channels through the deal. “We see broadband wireless as an ever-growing opportunity to distribute content,” Shaw President Peter Bissonnette said in an interview with BNN Friday. The purchase could allow Shaw to develop an integrated wireless service. Shaw spent about $190 million on wireless spectrum licenses in 2008. In December 2009, Industry Canada allocated Shaw a portion of spectrum in the 11 GHz band for direct-to-home (DTH) services, which will allow the company to offer additional satellite television services, such as HD channels. The Canwest acquisition could also allow Shaw to use Canwest’s Global Television unit to increase brand awareness. “The strategic rationale behind this is the ownership of content, the opportunity to brand ourselves and the synergy that exists between the Global television stations that go coast-to-coast,” Bissonnette said. “Of course the brand awareness is really important to us because of the synergy of our footprints. We have an opportunity to promote Shaw and its brand on all of those Global assets, as well as the specialty channels.” The Shaw deal is contingent on Canwest’s emergence from creditor protection, as well as on the approval of Canwest’s creditors, the Ontario Court and the CRTC. Should the deal be approved, Canwest will retain a separate board of directors as an independent company. The acquisition will not include Canwest’s newspaper assets, which will be sold in a separate auction. The agreement’s financial terms were not disclosed, and it must face CRTC review. NDP MP Charlie Angus said in a release Friday that the CRTC should “show backbone” on the Shaw takeover. The NDP argues that the CRTC has allowed unsustainable levels of media concentration and that the Shaw-Canwest deal would be one more move in that direction. “The CRTC can talk all they want about the importance of diverse voices on Canada’s media landscape, but the record will show they’ve done nothing but rubber stamp corporate takeovers,” Angus, the party's digital affairs critic, said. "Since Shaw is picking up these assets under a bankruptcy fire sale, it’s hard to believe that the CRTC will mandate Shaw to put any real money back into the system in the way of new programming commitments.”

Broadband wireless an ‘ever-growing opportunity’ to distribute content: Shaw

Briefs | 02/12/2010 8:22 pm EST

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