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TVO

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TVOntario, officially the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, is an educational public television broadcaster in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is owned directly by the provincial government of Ontario. Instead of following the model of the federally-owned CBC, which shows commercials, TVOntario is instead, like PBS in the United States, funded by donations from the public, particularly from viewer contributions made during on-air pledge drives. However, the vast majority of TVOntario's funding is provided by the Government of Ontario, which contributed $58.8 million in 2005-06. [1]

TVOntario's English service, currently branded TVO, is Canada's oldest educational TV service, and the country's second oldest UHF TV channel. It has larger over-the-air coverage in Ontario than the CBC, reaching 98.5% of Ontario with 216 transmitters. TVO is also broadcast on the Bell ExpressVu satellite service on Channel 265.

All TVO rebroadcast transmitters have the call letters CICA, CICO or CICE, followed by a number to denote their status as rebroadcasters.

TVOntario also operates TFO, a separate network for Franco-Ontarian audiences. Before the launch of TFO, TVO aired French-language programming on Sundays. Even after TFO's launch, TVO and TFO swapped programming on Sundays well into the 1990s.

History

CICA's history dates back to 1970, when its parent organisation, the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, was created by then Education Minister Bill Davis. At that time, the OECA produced children's and educational programming which was aired on commercial television stations.

The OECA eventually applied for and won a license for its own television station in Toronto, Ontario, CICA, with the mandate of '[using] electronic and associated media to provide educational opportunities for all people in Ontario.' The 'CA' in the CICA callsign was derived from the last two letters in the OECA acronym.

CICA began broadcasting on September 27, 1970 with 423,000 watts video and 84,600 watts audio. Its studios were located at 1670 Bayview Avenue and its transmitter was located at 354 Jarvis Street on the CBC tower; the height of its antenna was 550 feet. The station's broadcast name was OECA, sharing the name of its parent organization. In the mid-1970s, however, the station started to become unofficially known as TVOntario. The name change was made official in 1981; the OECA name is still used for official purposes, such as legal notices and copyrights.

In the latter half of the 1970s, the network began adding rebroadcast transmitters in other Ontario communities. Its very first rebroadcast transmitter was added in Ottawa, Ontario on October 25, 1975, under the callsign CICO.

In 1987, TVOntario launched La Chaîne française, which became TFO in 1994.

In 1995, the Mike Harris government promised to privatise TVOntario. They never carried through on this threat, but did severely cut its budget.

Today, TVO serves 98.5 per cent of Ontario households, on 216 transmitters throughout the province.

The current chair of TVOntario is film producer Peter O'Brian. The CEO is Lisa de Wilde. Past heads of the network include Isabel Bassett and Peter Herrndorf.

Programming

See: List of TVOntario programs

TVO shows a mixture of original shows, children's programming, British imports, and movies from around the world. TVO's daytime schedule is mostly children's programming. One of the network's most famous children's series is Polka Dot Door. In the evenings, TVO runs a mixture of documentary, drama and public affairs programming for adult audiences, including the popular Saturday Night at the Movies, which presents classic films with commentary and interview segments. Late at night, TVO shows educational programming that is designed for teachers to tape and show in school.

Although French language programs were shown on TVO since its inception and gradually increased in number since then, they eventually moved to the French arm of TVOntario, TFO. When La Chaîne française started, TVO would run its English language shows on that channel on Sundays after 12 Noon, while the English TVO channel presents La Chaîne française programming at that time. This was mainly to give Francophones without cable some French service. In the mid-1990s, TVO and the new TFO began their own language's services 7 days a week on their own channel, though the French on Sunday service remained for awhile longer for over-the-air viewers.

Noted shows

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