SHAW EXPANDS PAGING BUSINESS
By Adnews Staff
Shaw Communications of Calgary is buying most of the operations of National Pagette Messaging of Toronto. These will be merged with Shaw's paging business, NPC National Personal Communications, to make NPC the third-largest player in the industry, with annual sales of $16 million. The move also makes it possible for Shaw to build a Canada-wide satellite-based paging system. Privately-owned National is split up into three regions: B.C., the Prairies and Eastern Canada. Shaw is taking over the Prairie and Eastern Canada divisions, but not British Columbia. Advertising for National is handled in-house in Eastern Canada. A Toronto-based spokesman for the company could not say last week who does advertising in the Prairies. Shaw's agency is In-House Advertising Group of Edmonton. National has 26,000 subscribers in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It also operates telephone answering services in Ontario and Quebec. NPC has 65,000 subscribers in Ontario and Quebec. Shaw acquired NPC when it bought CUC Broadcasting of Toronto earlier this year.