World Impact Ministries / Peter Youngren

Grace TV grows west

Posted by Karena Walter, Standard Staff, March 29, 2010

A St. Catharines-based Christian television channel now covers 50% of English speaking homes in Canada after a recent expansion west. Grace Television Network was launched earlier this month on Shaw Cable, which covers Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

“It is a big deal for us in the west,” said Nathan Thurber, business administrator for World Impact Ministries, which runs Grace TV.

“It is the largest cable provider in the west, so it’s a big addition. To this date, there had not been another 24-7 Christian television provider on Shaw Cable.”

The television channel, headquartered downtown at Queen and St. Paul streets, is available across the country by satellite. With the new addition of Shaw Cable, it can be seen on cable stations in every province but Nova Scotia and Quebec, hitting even greater audiences.

“It does definitely expand our reach dramatically,” Thurber said. “Now we’re in safely over 50% of the English-speaking homes in Canada.”

Grace TV, formerly The Christian Channel, was rebranded after it was purchased in June 2009 by World Impact Ministries.

The nonprofit World Impact was started by Peter Youngren in 1976 as a ministry that focused on international Christian evangelical work.

For 15 years, World Impact produced TV programs from its base at Niagara Celebration Church on Scott Street. Those programs appeared on channels like Vision TV and The Christian Channel.

When World impact started its national digital channel in June 2009 and moved to downtown St. Catharines, it covered 30% of Canadian households.

The studio has 25 full-time and 20 part-time employees.

Youngren said in a press release that the call centre received many inquiries from people living in Western Canada requesting the channel.

Thurber was on tour last week to launch Grace TV in the west, with stops in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Victoria, among others.

“We did a major campaign, or rallies, in each of the cities drumming up support and the response was fantastic,” Thurber said. “Anywhere from 500 to 1,200 people at each meeting.”

On Cogeco, Grace TV is found on channel 186 and on Shaw Direct, formerly StarChoice, at channel 399.