Parroting its own similar successful initiatives in the western market, Shaw Cable has rebranded its community 10 channel for customers in the Barrie, Orillia and Simcoe County areas of Ontario with the launch of Shaw tv.

The community channel will offer 24 hours of local news, weather and information programming. Shaw tv will offer a multimedia format presenting current and long-range weather forecasts, traffic info, lottery results and ski conditions.

The local headlines will be offered in text form through a partnership with local papers the Barrie Examiner and the Orillia Packet and Times.

In the past, Shaw has similarly relaunched some of its community channels in the western markets with strong success. Shaw tv in Ontario lands smack in the middle of Chum Television’s The New vr – a news-heavy local station serving the same market.

Community channels are a crtc requirement for cable companies, which are obliged to give members of the community access to the airwaves.