Shaw attacks tiny competitor Novus
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- I am pissed !!!
I’m a Shaw customer here on Vancouver Island in BC, Canada, and my ISP, Shaw is offering an amazing deal »»»
- Two months free
- 200 digital channels
- $9.95/month for 10 months
WOW!
But not to me.
In a predatory pricing campaign, it’s making the offer only to customers of a competitor, Novus, a Vancouver company.
To everyone else »»»
- $67.85 HD package
- $16.00 Movie Central/HBO or Super Channel premium movie network
- $26.95 digital cable specialty channel package
- $ 3.95 time shifting option
- $30.00 Shaw HD personal video recorder set-top box
dslreports sums it up like this »»»
Canadian cable operator Shaw has dropped a bit of a pricing bomb on consumers and competitors in Vancouver. The operator is offering some unheard of deals, including 15Mbps service with a 100GB cap for $9.95 ($9.13 US), 200 channels of TV service (with 25 high-definition channels) for $9.95, or digital phone service with free installation, also for $9.95 a month. The catch? You have to live in an area served by Novus Entertainment, a Canadian fiber to the home operator that’s currently wiring Vancouver apartment buildings.
Novus offers symmetrical 10Mbps service for $37.50 a month (110GB cap), 30/10 Mbps service for $89.95 (200GB cap), or 50/10Mbps service for $179.95 (360GB cap). Given Novus’s small size of just 9,000 subscribers, Shaw can essentially give service away in Novus markets and just eat the losses.
Says Novus »»»
Novus is a tiny company compared to Canada`s national cable companies,” it states in a Shaw provides cable television service to 2.1 million customers in several Canadian provinces. Novus has 9,000 subscribers in 220 buildings in Downtown Vancouver and Burnaby and is planning an expansion into Richmond. Those buildings are being peppered with marketing from Shaw, including this special pricing offer.
Existing Shaw customers, and those who live outside of Novus` service area, cannot obtain the special pricing. That is the heart of a complaint lodged by Novus against Shaw at the Competition Bureau of Canada and in the British Columbia Supreme Court, charging Shaw is engaged in predatory pricing designed to put Novus out of business.
To combat Shaw’s price war against it, Novus has launched an online Twitter and Facebook campaign on 10buckstoo.com.
“This predatory pricing campaign targeting current users of Novus services, without as much as mentioning this promotion to current 2 million Shaw users!” – it declares, going on »»»
- In 2003, “Shaw specifically asked in its application that the CRTC forbid Telus from offering Internet promotional pricing at below-cost rates for periods in excess of three months” (source).
- Shaw which normally makes a 50% margin on services is going at a sizable loss as a means to destroy a local competitor.
We demand that Shaw maintains the same standards of business ethics that they expect their competitors to abide by.
How does this affect you? Competition lowers future prices, sign our petition to give Shaw a piece of your mind!
So why is their outrageous $9.95 per month offer not available to everyone?
We challenge Shaw to be fair and give everyone all 2 million plus customers in western Canada the $9.95 offer!
Do you want the 10 Bucks Offer too? Sign our Petition and call Shaw at 604.629.8888 use our tips to get 10 Bucks Too!
Greater Vancouver 604-629-8888
Kelowna 250-762-4433
Prince George 250-562-1345
Fort St John 250-785-3039
Victoria 250-475-5655
Edmonton 780-490-3555
Calgary 403-716-6000
Adds dslreports, “Of course Novus isn’t quite the frightened doe in the woods their campaign infers, given they’re owned by Canadian real estate tycoon Terry Hui. Hui also runs Concord Pacific, a major condominium and planned community developer in Vancouver that, not too surprisingly, signs broadband deals (fortunately non-exclusive) with Novus.
“Still, Novus’s public relations effort is an original and interesting way to fight Shaw’s market dominance, assuming it doesn’t simply announce to Novus customers that they can get cheaper service somewhere else.”
Stay tuned.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
(Cheers, Marc)
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
July, 2009
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July 30th, 2009 at 8:46 am
I wonder if the Competition Bureau and Supreme Court will actually fight Shaw on this, I somehow doubt it. Isn’t this the CRTC’s realm too?
Amazing how they don’t jump on it and go after the companies. Amazing how no regulatory committee goes after companies, even launching investigations, without some sort of political purpose (like OSPCA and Toronto Humane Society). Yet if Jon were to get internet for free or to create his own company, just a little one, CRTC and the like would be all over him like white on rice. He’d be fined and jailed. Yet a greedy corporation does it and the governing bodies CREATED TO PROTECT CITIZENS play in the sand instead of growing a pair and going after the corporations, even on a whim.
Be fair regulatory bodies! Seriously! If you are so easily ready to crucify citizens, why not the corporations? Oh right, they could sue you and they have the $$ to make it happen quickly, unlike the citizens that get screwed and left out to dry.
You are shameful!
If you had any real sense of self worth, you’d go after these companies all the time, just investigate. If you did, and if you actually followed through with charges, you’d see a lot less abuse by companies.
For one, SOCAN/MPAA/CRIA/RIAA et. al. would think twice before trying to pull fast ones to make a buck by screwing the citizens even more.
Don’t be spineless, that includes you too the Supreme Court, stand up for the law and punish Shaw, then Bell, then Rogers for anti-competitive actions. Don’t slap them with a few thousand dollar fines, hit them with tens of millions, that will keep them in line next time!
Stop the greed! Protect the people, or GET OUT OF THE WAY and let the People deal with the corporations, since you don’t seem to want to. And if you do get out of the way, STAY OUT OF THE WAY. Don’t interfere with your legal BS with citizens’ attempts to right the wrongs you fail to do yourself!
If you walk away, then the law does to and all bets are off for the citizens battle against the corporations! They don’t follow the law, why the hell should we have to, especially when he law doesn’t even protect us!
July 30th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Does it matter if the Canadian Courts fight or not.
By the time it gets settled Shaw can run a tiny business out of business, and that is their intension.
July 30th, 2009 at 10:29 am
If the courts do their job, Shaw won’t be in business either! Fines of $100 per user (2.2 million) would take care of them for good. The tiny businesses can easily come back, more of them too, and it will be a proper competitive environment.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:31 am
lol at the picture
July 30th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Would this not be discriminatory if Shaw throttles their pricing to one very specific area and not in Jon’s area?
So basically Jon is being discriminated against due to where he lives.
(if we follow the CRTC’s ruling on discrimination)
July 30th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Also, since shaw can give this at this price, this goes to show how much Bell Canada is raping the people.
In addition to this, one would expect a flood of new Shaw customers. This shows there is no congestion problem requiring packet molestation.
It shows a lot quite frankly.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
“…since shaw can give this at this price, this goes to show…”
The thing is, Shaw can’t actually give these prices, and the offer is only being made to Novus customers.
Shaw is purposely swallowing the loss on a maximum of only 9,000 possible accounts (Novus’ total number of susbscribers), in an attempt to prey on the customer base of that small business. (Hence the term “predatory pricing”.)
Shaw certainly couldn’t offer such a price to its own customer base of 2 million.
Way to go Shaw!
You’ve successfully graduated to new level of LOW.
A level that, to this point, had only been reached by Bell and Rogers.
Yeah!… Good business plan!
July 30th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Isn’t this the way companies have always done business? Wal-Mart certainly practices this. It’s great when they first move into an area, and undercut everyone else and start major price wars. But then after they drive their competitors out of business, they jack up the prices.
Does anyone not believe that after they snuff out Novus (and any other competitors), Shaw won’t slap customers with a huge price increase?
July 30th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Maybe you can twist the title of this to:
Shaw Telecom discriminates against blogger Jon Newton by charging him over 1000% more than other Shaw customers.
Shaw telecom attacks free speech!
July 31st, 2009 at 2:58 am
The comments by DSL reports is inaccurate. Concord does sign exclusive deals with Novus, as they do not allow Shaw access to any of their properties that are serviced by Novus!
July 31st, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Novus=Tiny company? You all realize that Terry Hui owns Concord Pacific AND Novus right? You should Google Terry and read about his antics with Vancouver city councilors. The only reason Novus is “tiny” is because they are only in buildings that Terry already owns.
Geez. You’d think people what know what they are talking about before they started talking!
Apparently I am not the only one that knows what’s really going on.
http://bit.ly/DoFX1
July 31st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
There are 2 sides to this story. Didn’t Novus do the exact same thing to shaw customers? Offering packages at 9.99? Also what about all the new condos in downtown Vancouver which have Novus signed on? Long story short is that Novus has a crap product to offer to begin with. It is pretty lame how they actualy go send reps out to condo buildings and offer free food and drinks and try to steal shaw customers.
July 31st, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I forgot to add to my previous post ”
There are 2 sides to this story. Didnât Novus do the exact same thing to shaw customers? Offering packages at 9.99? Also what about all the new condos in downtown Vancouver which have Novus signed on? Long story short is that Novus has a crap product to offer to begin with. It is pretty lame how they actualy go send reps out to condo buildings and offer free food and drinks and try to steal shaw customers.”
when another provider is not allowed into a building it has t raise the question about weather or not ti goes against your rights. If thats not wrong I do not know what is….
July 31st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Exclusivity deals are all over the place. It’s not only in Vancouver.
You have condo’s/apartments Even new construction sectors for houses that make Exclusivity deal with one sole provider, Bell or Rogers.
From what I have been reading, those that have Novus in their condo’s can indeed switch to another DSL or Cable supplier, so I don’t see why you are saying this, “When another provider is not allowed into a building…” .
I’d like the anti-competitive behavior of ALL Exclusivity contracts struck down by the competition bureau since it leaves poeple with no choice at all in TV, Internet, phone and other.
So far I haven’t seen that novus is doing this though.
I could be wrong. I just haven’t seen it stated anywhere.
perhaps you could be wrong?
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:19 am
Hey guys,
Got Novus here yet my building is not owned/operated and was not developed by Concord Pacific. Novus came in and negotiated with our Strata council before they could gain access to our building. We are also served by Shaw/Telus. Novus is actively wiring up various buildings in Vancouver, Burnaby and is looking at expanding even more.
And yes Novus does offer a deal to new subscribers and when it wires up a new building to all in the building. That said, the deal wasn’t this drastic and most certainly not lasting for a year, it was a few months at most.
Oh and Reader’s Write, Novus’ products are not crap. The internet is faster and is unthrottled unlike Shaw which actively throttles as they recently admitted to in the CRTC’s recent network hearing. Novus also has more HD channels and does not have the audio/video regularly dropping out like Shaw HD. Also, my cost has dropped from $120 after taxes to $71 for a better product. Part of that is simply the fact that i am no longer paying for full analog/digital channels just to get HD, but I still have to pay for basic cable as mandated by the CRTC.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:34 am
You’re right “Wow” People should know what they’re talking about before they post. and this certainly includes you!!! Novus are not only in Concord DEVELOPED Buildings (not owned) but are also wired in a much higher percentage of buildings that were not DEVELOPED by Concord. For the most part, the developer turns the buildings over to a property management company until a STRATA COUNCIL is elected.
The Strata council are then responsible for running the building for the individual owners of each suite. As for the Concord DEVELOPED buildings, I believe that Shaw enters them shortly after they have been turned over to the property management company or Strata council. The same applies for non-Concord developments where Shaw has previous arrangements with ALL of the other developers in Vancouver and is given the exclusive rights to enter first. So you tell me who has the distinct advantage here?
August 6th, 2009 at 1:49 am
As I am an extremely happy Novus customer, I would have to suggest that those of you with negative comments, are either somehow associated with Shaw or have never had the pleasure of utilizing a far superior service. I had been stuck with Shaw services for years until I moved into my present building. All I can say is thank God for competition!!
August 6th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
So if Peter Bissonnette (Shawâs president’s)quote is TRUTHFUL(from business in Vancouver article) we should all feel ripped off. Peter is quoted as saying “that Shawâs pricing is not below-cost”. If this is the case then their mark up is astronomical. After doing the math on this offer, it works out to $24.87/month, after factoring in the 2 months free, for all 3 services from Shaw. Now after this promo is done and you pay their regular rates, you would now be paying around $240.00/month!!!!!! That works out to approximately a 1000% MARK-UP!!!!!!!!
This is what I call GOUGING your customers. I am appalled at this. No company should be allowed to have these kind of mark-ups. This is why they want Novus gone. No competition = 1000% mark-up.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
@ outraged Shaw customer
I’m a Shaw customer too. But Shaw is nothing new. They all gouge us. It’s called ‘charging what the market will bear,’ ie, what we’ll put up with. And we’ll put up with anything and everything – ask the music industry.
Cheers!
August 6th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Hey Jon
Gouging is one thing but making a 1000% profit???
August 6th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
@ outraged Shaw customer:
Far as I’m concerned, they’re the same thing. Another way of describing it is, ’screwing the people who keep you in business’. Or the customer isn’t only wrong, s/he’s an idiot to be wrung dry.’
And so it goes …
Cheers!
August 8th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Since “outraged Shaw customer” is posting the exact same message on nunerous messageboards relating to this topic, they must either work for 6S Marketing or Novus themselves…
So, let’s play cut and paste!
What Novus failed to mention is that they offered everyone in their areas $9.95 internet/cable to switch to them, and as Peter Bisonette mentions has been very unwilling to allow others into the building they’ve run fiber to. That is LITERALLY a “barrier to entry” into the market for Telus, Shaw, etc, wouldn’t you say?
Costs to maintain the services to 50-200 units in a single building are drastically different than providing them to 50-200 houses, and pricing is different. MDUs (multi-dwelling-units) are a highly competitive space, and pricing is different accordingly.
While Shaw is clearly flexing its muscles here, it’s in response to Novus acting like a “big boy” itself, and duely being treated like one. What do you think Shaw, Telus, and Rogers do to each other every day of the week? Novus brought it upon itself.
And every customer in those buildings wins. Remember, those are real people saving real money. If you want the same deal, you can move into an MDU too!
Market at work, nothing more. Welcome to the big leagues Novus, you finally made it. =)
August 8th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Hey Repeater- I think it’s time to stop the inaccurate postings from you and the other Shaw employee’s posting here and on other message boards. I say this because ANYONE that agrees with what Shaw are doing have been either extremely MISINFORMED or are associated with Shaw in some regard. So I may do a little “cut and paste!” myself. I keep hearing how Novus stops other company’s from gaining access into buildings. I refer you to ‘Happy Novus Customer,s’ posting from above. So you think it’s unfair for Novus to have an advantage in 1% of the new buildings in Vancouver whereas Shaw has the advantage in the other 99%. I can see how this is VERY UNFAIR to Shaw and annoys you so.
And yes you’re correct in that “every customer in those buildings wins”, but you fail to mention that this is a win for only 1 year. After that year they are back to Shaw’s 1000% mark-up as Shaw will have successfully eliminated the competition. And no, Telus is not a viable competitor at this time as both their TV and Internet services are inferior to both Novus and Shaw. I now give you a “cut and paste” from a posting I found elsewhere.
“WHEN ONE COMPANY (SHAW) with a subscriber base of more than 2 million, OFFERS and OFFERS and OFFERS EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER of another MUCH SMALLER company’s (Novus) client base and ONLY THEM a promo of this magnitude it can only be construed in one way. It is called predatory pricing with the sole purpose of putting the other company out of business. THIS IS WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS ALL ABOUT.”
You will now accuse me of being either a Novus or 6s employee of which I am not. I am simply an INFORMED CONSUMER that would like to get the FACTS correct. If this doesn’t paint a nice picture of Shaw, then so be it. They are the ones that have created this.