Canada's Telus Profit Jumps a TV Subcriber Base Grows

TORONTO – Strong IP-based TV subscriber base growth has phone giant Telus Corp. continuing to claw back market share in western Canada from archrival Shaw Communications.

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Calgary-based Telus, reporting its fourth quarter 2012 results Friday, said it added 41,000 TV customers during the latest three months to Dec. 31, 2012.

Those additions of both IP-based Optik TV and satellite Telus TV subscribers was down on the 56,000 customers signed up in the same period of 2011.

But Telus’ TV subscriber base of 678,000 is up 33 percent, or 169,000 subscribers, from a year ago, as the phone giant aggressively pursues core TV and Internet access customers from dominant western Canadian cable player Shaw Communications.

Shaw lost 23,912 video customers during its latest first quarter to November 30, 2012 reporting period, a drop offset with higher rates and customer growth for Internet and digital phone services.

Slower growth for the Optik TV service also comes as both Telus and Shaw reduce aggressive pricing promotions, which undercuts margins.

On Friday, Telus posted fourth quarter earnings up 23 percent to $291 million on overall revenue up 6 percent to $2.85 billion.