Rogers to buy Shaw in deal worth $26 billion, combining Canada’s two largest cable providers

Should this big deal go through – after reading the article it appears these two companies think it will – this new “mega-corp” would own eight radio stations and I think three or four television stations in the Vancouver market alone. Add to this the “mega-corp” would own a very large chunk of the specialty channels on the cable system.

What kind of “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” is going on behind the scenes and what promises are being made to the government and CRTC in order for this to go through.

We all better keep an eye on our cable, internet and cell phone bills.

Is this a preview of things to come? What will Telus or BCE’s next move be? Perhaps selling to or merging with a major telco in the US? We’ll have to wait and see.

Which radio stations will be shut down?

What will happen to my @shaw.ca email address?

The deal does not include Corus…so no impact on radio/tv ownership levels.

Sh**. I transferred from Fido to Freedom Mobile because I want to escape any cable and cellular related to Rogers. Now I feel I am screwed.

Competition bureau has to approve yes?

Next time Rogers wants to make cuts to their company, they should be reminded that they spent $26 billion buying Shaw. One condition of the sale should be no job cuts for at least five years.

I’ve said it before and it’s even worse now. Media should not be in the hands of National Corporations. It should be locally owned with a limit on the number of outlets in one community. That’s the only way the ‘locals’ get local and regional news and other items concerning the community. The owners in Toronto have no idea what happens across the nation. Again, I suggest the CRTC should get REALLY involved. Failing that, the Commons.

If this deal goes through (and it should not) the regulatory body (CRTC) I’m sure this will be great for consumers and the market ideology. Any time we see a shrinkage in competition in any market (as lousy of a competition it already is in Canadian telecommunications) we always see benefits for the end consumers ( NOT!)

Canada already suffers poor competition in the telecommunications industry, it won’t likely get better if the soft heads at the CRC approve of this deal.

@Chris. Name one company in Canada that after declaring there will be no job cuts after a merger/buyout etc that did not cut jobs.

Yes, a regular Daimler-Chrysler “merger of equals”.

Next on the agenda….

Canada changes its name to “Rogers”

Reminds me of when Comcrap bought NBC. Different yes, but same uneasy feeling. That merger was not a plus to the average citizen in my view…….

Canada’s mileage may vary.

If the deal goes through I will cancel my service and move over to Telus. I signed with Shaw and it’s been that way since 1988. It’s my choice to decide who my service provider will be.

We do not watch a lot of TV so we do not need a 900 channel world with repeats of old shows on specialty channels.

The most economical Shaw package we could find is the “skinny” pack which has only limited Canadian channels… CBC, CTV, City, CHEK, Global, Knowledge, and from the U.S. MeTV.
Other channels…Joy, Omni,APTN, The shopping channel etc don’t interest us.
We also have internet at a level that we can stream video. This limited service works for us – If we had all those other channels all we’d do is channel surf looking for something to watch.

Will the costs go up? most likely. Will the packages improve? Not likely. Will we continue using catv and internet – and complain about it? Sure, what else can we do other than cut the cord and put up a dish…. Oh yea the same “mega-corps” that have a semi-monopoly on cable, internet, and phones also have the satellite service as well – we’re hooped.

I think I’ll go read a book… and listen to the radio (I almost forgot the have hat locked up as well) – Like I said above; We’re hopped.

since 2011 the federal government said that they will investigate bell and Rogers. here we are in 2021 and both are now in control of 98% of tv, radio and telephone companies. there is no guarantee of changes to radio stations, no guarantee of cell and internet prices going up.

Growing up in the Vancouver in the late ’50s tv channels that were easy to pick up with “rabbet ears” were; 2, 6,8 and 12 (we mounted a channel 12 antenna in the front room). We lived on high ground near Kingsway and Fraser. With an roof top antenna we would have been able to receive 4, 5 and 7.

While on vacation in Victoria we were able to get all the Seattle/Tacoma stations – what a treat.

My parents didn’t have cable until after I left home. When we lived in South Burnaby on the south slope we were able to pick up the American stations with “ears”.

When My wife and I set up our home we got cable with 36 channels. Wow!

I recall operating cameras with “Western Cable systems” in Surrey in the mid 1970s – That company’s community channel carried Vancouver’s community programming during the day and local programs for Surrey, Langley and New Westminster in the evenings.

As I recall “Western Cable” was partly owned by Vancouver’s cable company and in turn they were partly owned and than entirely owned outright by Rogers.

As I was thinking about this I did some research and fount the following link to a web page featuring “History of Canadian Broadcasting” with the sub-section titled “History of Cable Television”. ( http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/industry-government/history-cable-television ) It is a bit of a long read but the item gives us a good idea of how we got here from there – (there being 1953 and the launch of a Canadian TV ).