Jim Shaw

Jul 1, 2001

by Chris Welner

Jim Shaw – CEO, Shaw Communications Inc.

Jim Shaw’s at home in the family cable business. And since rising to CEO of Calgary-based Shaw Communications Inc. in 1998 he has overseen the company’s largest era of growth that includes building a high-speed Internet division with 500,000 subscribers and $200 million revenue.

Internet customers before Jim : zero; revenue : zero. Shaw is now the highest penetrated cable modem company in the world. Not to ignore the cable TV division, Jim Shaw has overseen the acquisition of Star Choice movie network, Moffat Communications interests in Edmonton and Winnipeg and the swapping of cable assets in Toronto for assets in Vancouver. Heady times for a man who was installing cable 20 years ago. Shaw is chairman of the Canadian Cable Television Association and is director for CableLabs and Group Telecom. He serves on the board of governors for Shawnigan Lake School in Victoria and Strathcona Tweedsmuir School in Calgary. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization.

Yearbook: A non-conformist… Jim’s a bit rough around the edges.

Major communications firms are looking to convergence as a major revenue generator for their future. What convergence opportunities will Shaw be exploring? The biggest convergence will be between entertainment storage and user access. We will store digital products and serve you on demand from your home. We’ll see stop-and-start programming, video-on-demand programming within the next five years. I’m not saying it will be cheaper, but it will be way more flexible.

Major influence: My time at Shawnigan Lake School. It was a boys’ private school I went to : there were good friendships, and discipline. A lot of my life, friends and peers, stems from Shawnigan Lake.

July 2001 Contents

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