Calgary’s Shaw Communications Inc. kicked off the 2007 fiscal year with respectable revenue and earnings results for its first quarter. Consolidated revenue at the cable and DTH operator weighed in at $671 million, a 13.8% improvement over the $589.5 million in the first quarter of the previous year. Net income, meanwhile, was $81.1 million for the three months ended November 30, 2006, compared to $75.7 million for the same period last year.
However, subscriber growth slowed on a year-over-year basis in nearly every category except digital phone: new customer acquisitions in basic cable, digital cable, Internet and DTH all dipped, some more than 75%. "Throughout the remainder of this year we will continue to focus on our key priorities of customer service, the further expansion of the Digital Phone footprint, strengthening our video offering with new programming and HDTV services, and bundling strategies. We also plan to launch a business voice service," said CEO Jim Shaw in a release.