Shaw said Wednesday it added a record 100,000 new digital subscribers during the second quarter, and that its on-demand movie rental and high-definition TV services helped boost total subscriber numbers to one million.
“We believe customers are making a conscious decision to spend more of their entertainment expenditures on in-the-home alternatives, and this bodes well for our digital TV business,” said CEO Jim Shaw on a conference call with analysts. “Digital represents a tremendous growth opportunity for us.”
Shaw reported fiscal second quarter profits of $156.2 million, down from a year-earlier $299 million, when the company enjoyed a $188-million tax recovery.
Stripped of one-time items, profits would have been $128 million in the most recent quarter, up from $113 in the 2024 quarter. Revenues were up 10 per cent to $839 million.
Shaw, stated basic cable subscribers increased by 4,273 during the quarter. Meanwhile, the number of Internet customers rose by 26,130 and digital phone lines by 50,848.
Jim Shaw has reiterated his company’s plans to steer clear of the wireless industry for now, even though it has been sitting on 20 megahertz of wireless spectrum it purchased from the federal government nearly a year ago for $190 million.
“We have not seen a compelling reason to get in there. I don’t think we were wrong in buying the spectrum. I think we were totally right,” Shaw said.
“We think that the wireless numbers for all of the companies are going to come off the sheet. It’s going to be weak. There’s a lot of problems with wireless. There’s a lot of price competition.”
Shaw said it will be at least a year before his company decides whether to make a foray into the wireless industry.
“We’re just kind of on the edge to watch and think about what to do,” he said.
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