Feature Story: ShawTV in Alberta "Your Local Voice"

Shaw TV is a locally-based community channel service operated by Calgary-based Shaw Communications and is available to Shaw Cable subscribers in most major communities throughout western Canada. In Alberta, they operate local channels in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. Each station runs programming one hour of local programming each day produced by staff and/or volunteers. Most stations broadcast a variety of programming, including news, live studio shows, city council meetings, high school/college sports, and community bulletin board/scrolling news advertisements.

As someone always on the lookout for publicity opportunities for client’s projects and publicity workshops participants, I spent some time with over the Christmas holidays checking out publicity opportunities at ShawTV. I was pleasantly surprised. I started watching ShawTV Edmonton, also known as Channel 10, in earnest, on Wednesday, December 23, 2009. I caught the ShawTV "Drive Home Show" at about 5:30pm. For those who haven’t heard the term before, drive home is a term used almost exclusively in radio to denote the period from 4:00 to 6:00pm when typically workers are driving home from work. And also typically, it is the period in which advertisers pay the highest rates.

I found it curious that Shaw used the term "The Drive Home" on their Channel Directory. I cannot imagine many of their viewers were driving home from work and watching ShawTV along the way. I also found it curious that they integrated live video from the 15 traffic cameras installed at major intersections throughout the city with their program lineup. Perhaps this is why they the call the segment "The Drive Home"? Again, I cannot imagine that workers are checking out the live videos of their favourite intersection on ShawTV before they leave the office. Nevertheless, it was impressive to be able to watch live video from Edmonton’s streets interspersed with news programming.

ShawTV's programming format is varied and the programs often repeat which I found to be both good and bad. The varied format, a mix of news and promotion that is softly covered with advertising from the sponsors, seems a good promotional opportunity for a wide range of situations. Early on in the first segment I watched was a feature on the Cloverdale Community League hosted by Nancy Rempel who writes a column on community issues for the Edmonton Examiner. Following this piece was a piece on the Edmonton Humane Society promoting their annual Companion Week campaign. Between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, they offer “adoption incentives” to prospective pet owners. Featured was Ralphie the Rabbit. His claim to fame –he’s was the society’s longest term tenant.

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