The channel was launched in 1996 by
Rogers Cable under the name
Direct To You, with the
tagline "The Infomercial Channel". In March 1997, Torstar announced that it would purchase the channel from Rogers Cable for
$1.7 million, with the intention of rebranding the channel to align it with the
Toronto Star newspaper, the
flagship brand of Torstar Corporation. In October 1997, Torstar renamed the network
Toronto Star TV. While under the direction of Rogers Cable, the channel exclusively aired
infomercials, however, with the name change to Toronto Star TV, Torstar injected news and information into its schedule, blurring the lines between a shopping channel and a news channel. This was done so in an effort to boost subscriptions to the
Toronto Star, by offering a glimpse of what readers could expect from the newspaper itself. The channel also began producing in-house infomercial content for third party clients. In April 2003, Torstar rebranded the network, this time as
ShopTV Canada, in an effort to better reflect the type of programming the channel broadcasts. On November 6, 2013, it was noted that the channel had been shut down either that day or very shortly before. On Rogers' cable systems in the Toronto area (the only providers carrying it at that point), its channel position was replaced for
digital cable customers with a free-preview channel (initially carrying
Nickelodeon), and was not replaced for analog customers, although its slot is now occupied by
WGRZ Buffalo in some areas. ==Licensing==