Justin Mousseau, Jim Cummins, and Daniel Gagnon were let go today. Looks like the company is heading in a new direction?

The next subscriber number announcement should be quite interesting.

No Shaws on the list? Too bad. I hate nepotism.

I'm sure Global will have extensive coverage on tomorrows NewsHour...

I wouldn't read too much into a change in direction at Shawdirect. Lets just say that a Unicorn sighting is more common than a voluntary retirement party at Shaw.

This is just another step in the Shaw "Zellers to Target" program.

At some point in the next couple of years, Shaw Direct will be shut down. The Anik F1R/F2 transponders will be sold to DirecTV & Charlie Ergan via auction.

Shaw Broadcast Services will use Anik G1 to deliver Shaw Media + Corus HD feeds to cable head ends.

Time to join the masses and dump your SD hardware before it becomes doorstops like VOOM. The final straw was when Google sold the Motorola settop business to Arris.

If Shawdirect was planning on selling the last thing they would do is clean out their senior management and get shareholders nervous. Senior management is usually terminated by the new buyer.

The plan is not to sell Shaw Direct. Just like Hudson Bay did with Zellers, Shaw will shutdown Shaw Direct when cash flow turns negative. Then sell the real assets - Anik F1R/F2 transponders.

987654321, I don't think so.

Existing SBS/Cancom at least will stay. There is too much entrenched infrastructure for that for smaller cable operators.

G1 is supposed to be temporary.

Because existing SBS/Cancom stays, Shaw Direct probably will as well.

I believe that both Bell and Shaw Direct will eventually shut down consumer subscription TV services via Satellite however I still think that is many years away (probably 15-20 years). I think eventually if Shaw and Bell stay in the satellite business, the transponders they lease will be for data services and not television and audio signals.

In the Internet era, satellite DTH is an obsolete technology. Satellite sub counts at both Shaw and Bell are on a downward spiral.

At some time in the future (my estimate 3 to 5 years): Bell and Shaw will merge satellite divisions - most likely with Dish hardware.

Probably a valid statement that DTH will decline in North America and/or the developed world. On the whole, projections are for an overall worldwide increase for some of the same reasons that cell phone growth was so huge in areas without a wired infrastructure.

To hell with the Nagra garbage from Bell/Dish. Keep the DC2 equipment and make it tamper free.

Nagra is secure now and will never be hacked again in my opinion.

The SD Motorola boxes are garbage. To hell with them.

I think 987654321 has hit the nail on the head. SD will close shop and sell the transponders.

Shaw has only looked at Shaw Direct as a profit centre since they bought 100%. When it came to investing in SD, it always has been "too little, too late".

The latest price increase means basic service has increased by over 25% in less than a year. They will lose between 50k and 100k subs in the next 3 months. They know that so the big salaries have to be dumped as part of the ongoing cost reduction program. As others have stated, it's all part of keeping SD cash flow positive as long as possible.

Shaw tipped their hat when they sold Shaw Cable in Hamilton to Rogers. They are retreating to the West and are trying to leverage Rogers vs Bell in order to get exclusive rights to sell Bell or Rogers cell services in Shaw Cable territory. They missed the boat completely in the cell business, so the chickens have come home to roost now with pressure from their major institutional investors to increase share value.

The G1 transponders have 0 value to anyone else, so as others have surmised at some point F1R/F2 transponders will be sold.