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TORONTO — Shaw Communications Inc , a Western Canada-focused media and cable company, said on Thursday that net income fell almost 9% in the third quarter, as it lost more television subscribers despite a boost from business customers.

Calgary, Alberta-based Shaw is engaged in a fierce battle for customers with telecommunications operator Telus Corp , but both have sought to avoid a price war.

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Shaw reported net income of $228 million, or 47 Canadian cents per share, for the quarter ended May 31, down from $250 million, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier.

Operating revenue was $1.342 billion, up slightly from a year ago. The company said it now expects free cash in excess of $650 million for 2014.

Analysts, on average, expected Shaw to earn 49 Canadian cents a share on revenue of $1.36 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shaw said some of the quarterly income decline was due to the sale of a cable business in the year-ago quarter.