Shaw Communications recently indicated it lost 23,912 basic cable TV subscribers during its first quarter to Nov. 30, 2012.

Where did they go?

Telus Corp. last week revealed its IPTV service, Optik TV, signed up 41,000 new subscribers during its fourth quarter to Dec. 31, 2012.

That represented slower customer growth than the 56,000 Optik TV subscribers signed up in the fourth quarter of 2011.

At the same time, the total Optik TV subscriber base of 678,000 is up 33% from 169,000 customers from a year ago.

And Shaw secured rate increases for its basic TV service and theme packs.

That was all enough for Telus to put a deeper dent in Shaw Communications’ traditional dominance of the western Canadian cable TV market, and record a 23% rise in Q4 earnings to $291 million, on revenue up 6% to $2.85 billion.

Telus continued to get the bulk of its revenue from its wireless phone division, with a subscriber base of 7.7 million, up 4.5% during the fiscal year.

“2012 was an exceptional year for Telus, fuelled by our long-term strategy of investing in broadband data technology and services and applications within our core business,” Telus president and CEO Darren Entwistle said in a statement.