Shaw spent $182M on Shomi in 2016, only made $46M back in streaming revenue

Shaw Communications recently released its 2016 fiscal report.

In those documents, the carrier revealed that its co-ownership of Shomi cost the company much more than it earned back. Shaw earned just $46 million on Shomi in 2016 versus the $182 million that it spent.

Because Shaw and Rogers both held a 50 percent stake in Shomi, it’s reasonable to estimate that the streaming service cost the two telcos over $364 million to run.

The streaming service was launched in 2014 as a joint venture between Rogers and Shaw and will shut down at the end of November. Furthermore, while revenue was up significantly from 2015 — $18 million to $46 million — operating costs also increased significantly from $128 million to $182 million.

As of August 31st, 2016, Shaw Communications revenues totalled $4.8 billion with $2.7 billion in operating costs. This is up year over year from $4.4 billion in revenue and and $2.4 billion in operating costs in 2015.

This resulted in a 2016 net income of $1.2 billion, up from $880 million this time last year. The company also recorded a diluted earnings per share amount of $0.92, from $1.39 this time last year.

It’s important to note that Shaw Communications went through a upheaval this past year with the sale of its media arm to Corus Entertainment. This sale earned Shaw Communications a recorded $71 million.

Related: The best quotes from CRTC’s Jean-Pierre Blais at IIC (including Shomi, Guy Laurence and net neutrality)

[source]Shaw Communications[/source]