Groupe Média TFO is a public media organization created by the government of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, which produces and distributes French-language educational content, available on various platforms, including the

TFO TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is owned by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by the ...

television channel, TFO Éducation and various YouTube channels. Groupe Média TFO manages a television channel, 200 websites, 20 mobile applications and games, 15 subscription platforms and 14 social media platforms. Apart from its educational and youth content (for audiences aged 2 to 17), Groupe Média TFO produces and broadcasts cultural and current affairs content for adults. The group is the only French-language, multimedia network in Canada with its headquarters outside of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

History

Before 1987, a few hours of daily French programming was offered by

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

. On January 1, 1987,

's educational French-language television channel, called La Chaîne, was officially launched. In 1995, La Chaîne was renamed TFO. TFO was originally created to provide content applicable to the French-language education system in Ontario. Services has since expanded to include EduLulu, a public evaluation service for mobile educational applications, designed for francophones and anglophones from Ontario and elsewhere. In 2006, the Ministry of Education for Ontario created a public media corporation – the Ontario French-Language Educational Communications Authority (OTÉLFO) – and provided funding for digital technologies and HD to meet the needs of Ontario's francophone linguistic minority.

, the OTÉLFO's television channel, offers programming focused on education, with shows for children, teens and adults. Starting in 2010, in response to increasing use of

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s, tablets, computers, and

smart board Smart Technologies (stylized as SMART Technologies) also known as Smart, is a Canadian company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and wholly owned by Foxconn. Founded in 1987, Smart is best known as the developer of interactive whiteboa ...

s, as well as new ways of watching televised content, such as

binge-watching Binge-watching (also called binge-viewing) is the practice of watching entertainment or informational content for a prolonged time span, usually a single television show. Statistics Binge-watching overlaps with marathon viewing which places mo ...

, TFO's board of directors initiated a technological shift to provide content for these platforms. In September 2010, Glenn O'Farrell was named president and CEO of the OTÉLFO. In January 2011, l'OTÉLFO, by then publicly known as Groupe Média TFO began the development YouTube channels, including Mini TFO, a children's channel. Groupe launched a Mini TFO application in

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

's App Store. To extend its programming for the Francophone community, Groupe Média TFO began a collaboration in 2012, with

La Cité collégiale LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

. In 2013, Groupe Média TFO organized the Sommet des tablettistes, an international conference on the impact of new technologies on education, and in April 2014 initiated the EduLulu project, an evaluation service for educational applications in Canada.4 TFO adapted its educational content designed for teachers to the digital environment, and the result was TFO Éducation, an interactive service offering teachers a collection of about 5,000 educational tools. The service has been licensed by 12 French-language school boards and 60 English-language school boards in

In 2015 TFO submitted a proposal to the CRTC that all BDUs and satellite TV providers in Canada be required to include the channel in their lineup. The CRTC declined the proposal."CRTC rejects TFO must-offer application"
''Playback'', By Julianna Cummins November 15, 2015

References

{{reflist

External links

TFO Annual Report
Organizations based in Toronto Television production companies of Canada Television broadcasting companies of Canada