Looks like cable giant Shaw isn’t taking any guff from Vancouver upstart Novus. The small cable and ISP provider launched its “10 Bucks Too” campaign, with a little help from Yaletown’s 6S Marketing, after Shaw began offering a $9.95 price point for two months of free Shaw Digital TV, followed by a $9.95 charge for the next 10 months, in order to get people to switch. Novus claims that it has been targeted, and that every Shaw customer should have had access to the same deal, not just ones that happen to have a choice. And since Novus doesn’t have nearly the resources of media giant Shaw, they used Facebok, Twitter and other social media to get their message out.
But now Shaw has taken off the gloves and is suing Novus for what Shaw president Peter Bissonnette says is “spreading misinformation”about Shaw’s promotion. Novus had said in July that it was filing a predatory pricing case with the Competition Bureau of Canada and the BC Supreme Court, and now Shaw has countered with a defamation suit.
Stopthecap covers the entire brouhaha in great detail, and rest assure Techvibes will keep you informed as this battle rages on.
Full disclosure: The Novus Community Channel currently runs my Freyburg Media series, “This is Yaletown,” and will also soon run episodes of “The East Van Podcast.” I’m also a Novus customer at present.
Novus is a privately held Canadian corporation formed to provide state-of-the-art integrated communications and entertainment services to residents... [more]
Shaw has experienced rapid and successful growth within the cable, satellite and telecommunications industries over the last several decades. With... [more]
Warren Frey
Warren Frey is a writer, editor, blogger and podcaster based out of Vancouver, BC. After working for six years in the Canadian broadcasting industry, he switched to print and has since covered varied assignments from plumbing conferences to star-studded film galas. But he’s never lost his love for the internet and interactive media, from his teens...[more]
