Shaw Communications has eliminated around 500 jobs in western Canada as part of a surprise restructuring.

The cuts, amounting to approximately 4% of the media group’s 13,000-strong workforce, will not impact the Shaw Media broadcast division.

The pink slips were handed mostly to managers, with some support/technical staff impacted.

A call centre in Saskatoon will also be shuttered.

The restructuring follows fiscal 2010 earnings for Canada’s second-largest cable operator falling amid increased competition from western Canadian phone giant Telus Corp., and news that the Shaw family-controlled company would delay its entry into Canada’s wireless phone market until 2012.

Calgary-based Shaw also last year acquired the former Canwest Global Communications Corp.’s TV assets for $2 billion, and renamed them Shaw Media, to raise its game as a broadcaster.