Ontario’s Niagara Region is getting a new local television station starting Feb. 7, giving area advertisers the opportunity to dedicate their messaging to their primary audience.

The Category 2 digital channel, Niagara News TV, is being carried exclusively by Cogeco digital, and will reach 57,000 homes on channel 556. It will initially span Port Colborne to Niagara-on-the-Lake, but will grow to include neighbouring communities.

To start out, NNTV will air a one-hour nightly newscast Monday to Friday in a loop from 5 to 11 p.m. The newscast will cover local issues and events, with additional content from Canadian Press and CNN.

Outside the 5 to 11 p.m. block, the channel will air local weather information and digital feeds, including celebrity, business and international news feeds, Steve Stunt, NNTV spokesperson, tells MiC.

The news team is lead by Kim Rossi, Krissy Vann, Annie Silvester, with sports being handled by Ryan McKinty and legendary Canadian broadcaster Rick Hodge. Hodge began his career in 1974 doing sports for CHUM-FM and spent two decades co-hosting Toronto’s top morning show on CHUM. Hodge has also worked with CFRB 1010 and EZ Rock.

‘It’s very regional content,’ Stunt says. ‘We’re still going to talk about some sports things happening in Toronto because we’re close to that, and Buffalo because we’re close to that, but it’s really the first time a business owner here in Niagara can use that power of TV, and they’ve never had that opportunity before.’

Stunt adds that once the initial block of programming is running smoothly, NNTV will start expanding its content offering through the day.

The channel is owned by a group of Niagara-area investors, including former Vickers & Benson president Terry O’Malley. The station’s website is launching Monday.