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
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 Ca ...
. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority (OECA), a
Crown corporation owned by the
Government of Ontario
The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crownârepresented in the province by the lieutenant governorâ ...
. It operates
flagship station CICA-DT (channel 19) in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, which also relays programming across portions of Ontario through eight
rebroadcast stations. All
pay television
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
(
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
,
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
,
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded med ...
) providers throughout Ontario are required to carry TVO on their basic tier, and programming can be
streamed
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
for free online within Canada.
Governance, funding and other responsibilities
TVO is governed by a volunteer
board of directors, and supported by a network of regional councillors from across the province. TVO also reports to the
Ontario legislature through the
Minister of Education, in accordance with the Ontario Educational Communications Authority Act.
Instead of following the model of the federally owned
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
(CBC)'s television services, which shows commercial advertisements, TVO chose a commercial-free model similar to the Public Broadcasting Service (
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
) in the United States (in fact, various TVO productions wound up being aired on PBS stations). This model was later emulated by provincial educational broadcasters
Télé-Québec
The Société de télédiffusion du Québec (; en, Quebec Television Broadcasting Corporation), branded as Télé-Québec (), is a Canadian French-language public educational television network in the province of Quebec. It is a provincial Cro ...
in Quebec and
Knowledge Network
Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crown co ...
in British Columbia. The majority of TVO's funding is provided by the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Education, which provides $39 million annually, with additional funding provided by charitable donations.
TVO is also responsible for over-the-air broadcasts of the
Ontario Legislative Assembly in some remote
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
communities that do not receive cable television access to the
Ontario Parliament Network.
In 2002, the Ministry of Education transferred responsibility for the
Independent Learning Centre
TVO ILC (Independent Learning Centre) is the Canadian province of Ontario's designated provider of distance education and the exclusive provider of General Educational Development (GED) Testing in Ontario.
TVO ILC has a mandate from the Ontario ...
, the agency which provides
distance education
Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
at the elementary and secondary school level to TVO.
TVO used to operate
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 ...
(''Télévision française de l'Ontario''), a separate but similar 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. TFO was separated from TVO and was incorporated under the newly formed GroupeMĂ©dia TFO, a separate Crown corporation of the Government of Ontario, in 2007.
In 2017 and 2018, TVO launched four regional "hubs", featuring journalism on issues in the various regions of Ontario, on its website. Hubs are currently based in
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population i ...
for the
Northwestern Ontario region,
Sudbury for
Northeastern Ontario
Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior.
Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiskami ...
,
Kingston for
Eastern Ontario
Eastern Ontario (census population 1,763,186 in 2016) (french: Est de l'Ontario) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies in a wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River. It s ...
, and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
for
Southwestern Ontario. In 2019, the service also launched an Indigenous hub to cover
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
issues throughout the province.
History
1970s
![Ontario Educational Communications Authority logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Ontario_Educational_Communications_Authority_logo.svg)
The Ontario Educational Communications Authority (OECA) was created in June 1970 by then Education Minister
Bill Davis
William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 â August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...
. At that time, the OECA produced children's and educational programming which was aired on commercial television stations.
The CBC, acting on behalf of OECA, applied for and won a licence for the ministry's television station in Toronto. CICA, with the mandate of "
sing
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
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
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
. CBC operated the CICA transmitter while the OECA was in charge of programming. OECA assumed all operations of the station, independent of the CBC, when the provincial government declared the Authority an independent corporation in a 1973 Order-in-Council.
![TVOntario logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/TVOntario_logo.svg)
CICA signed on the air on September 27, 1970, operating at a radiated power of 423,000 watts video and 84,600 watts audio. Its studio facilities were located at 1670 Bayview Avenue (a five-storey office building that is still standing) and its transmitter
antenna
Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves
* Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...
was located at 354 Jarvis Street on the CBC tower. In 1972, the station moved its operations to a new studio facility at 2180
Yonge Street
Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.
Once the southernmost leg of provincial H ...
in the
Canada Square Complex
Canada Square is a complex of three interconnected office buildings located at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, including a small shopping concourse. The two main towers are examples of International Style.
The complex's large ...
, where it remains. The station's broadcast name was "OECA", sharing the name of its parent organization, but began using the on-air brand "TVOntario" (and later just TVO) beginning in 1974.
When the
Global Television Network was originally approved, it was with a proposal that OECA would broadcast across southern Ontario during the daytime using Global's six transmitters, as Global's own programming only ran from 5 p.m. to midnight. However, when Global launched in 1974, this proposal was not implemented.
In the latter half of the 1970s, TVO began adding rebroadcast transmitters in other Ontario communities. Its first rebroadcast transmitter, CICO (now CICO-24), signed on from Ottawa on October 25, 1975.
1980sâ1990s
In 1987, TVO launched ''La Chaßne française'', a French-language public television network which became TFO in 1995. The Ontario government under
Mike Harris
Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
promised to privatize TVO. They never carried through on this plan, but did cut its budget.
2000s
![TVO logo as of 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/TVO_logo_as_of_2008.svg)
The positions of chair and CEO were divided in 2005. Film producer
Peter O'Brian was appointed chairman and
Lisa de Wilde became CEO. On June 29, 2006, the provincial Ministry of Education announced a major overhaul of TVO: its production capabilities would be upgraded to fully digital systems by 2009 (ministry funding would be allocated for this); and TFO would be spun off into a separate organization.
Moreover, programming changes were announced later that day: thirteen hours of new weekly children's educational programming was added, ''
Studio 2
''Studio 2'' was a daily (weeknights) current affairs newsmagazine on TVOntario in Ontario, Canada. The show won several Gemini Awards, and was hosted by Steve Paikin and Paula Todd (who replaced original co-host Mary Hynes in the show's third ...
'' was replaced by ''
The Agenda
''The Agenda with Steve Paikin'', or simply ''The Agenda'', is the flagship current affairs television program of TVOntario (TVO), Ontario's public broadcaster. Anchor Steve Paikin states that the show practices long-form journalism. Each hour-l ...
'', and ''
More to Life
"More to Life" is a theme-song to the early 1990s '' Trainer'' TV series. The song was written by Simon May and Mike Read. The theme won them a TRIC award for Best TV Theme.
Sung by Cliff Richard, it was released as a single in the UK in Septemb ...
'' and ''Vox'' were cancelled.
The move to digitize services represents a transition; ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' quoted TVO CEO Lisa de Wilde saying "while television will remain an important medium for TVO, the days of defining ourselves as only a broadcaster are past."
In 2002, the Independent Learning Centre, which is responsible for distance education at the elementary and secondary school level, and for
GED
The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...
testing, was transferred from the Ministry of Education to TVO.
![TVO logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/TVO_logo.svg)
Chairs and CEOs
*
Thomas Ide
Thomas Ranald "Ran" Ide, (February 20, 1919 – October 23, 1996) was a Canadian educator and the founding Chairman of TVOntario.
Biography
Born in Ottawa, he received a degree in economics and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force durin ...
(1970â1979)
*
Jim Parr
James Gordon Parr (May 26, 1927 – April 5, 2000) was an English-Canadian academic, broadcaster and provincial civil servant in the province of Ontario, Canada.Donn Downey, "Jim Parr:CBC Radio fans recall his show on metallurgy In addition to ...
(1979â1985)
*
John Radford (1985)
*
Bernard Ostry
Bernard A. Ostry, (June 10, 1927 – May 24, 2006) was a Canadian author, philanthropist, and civil servant, who is best known for being chair and CEO of TVOntario.
Born in Wadena, Saskatchewan, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the ...
(1985â1991)
*
Peter Herrndorf
Peter A. Herrndorf (October 27, 1940 â February 18, 2023) was a Canadian lawyer and media businessman. He retired as the president and chief executive officer of the National Arts Centre on June 2, 2018.
Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, he gr ...
(1992â1999)
*
Isabel Bassett
Isabel Bassett (born August 23, 1939) is a Canadian broadcaster and former politician. From 1999 until 2005 she was the chair and CEO of TVOntario/ TFO, Ontario's provincial public television network. She has been a controversial figure at time ...
(1999â2005)
''The positions of Chair of the Board and CEO were divided in 2005''
Chair
*
Peter O'Brian (2005â2020)
* Chris Day (2020âpresent)
CEO
*
Lisa de Wilde (2005â2019)
*
Jeffrey Orridge
Jeffrey Lyndon Orridge (born 1960) is the chief executive officer of TVOntario, the provincial educational television network. He was appointed effective November 30, 2020. Previously he served as 13th Commissioner of the Canadian Football Leagu ...
(November 30, 2020 â present)
Programming
TVO airs a mixture of original children's programming, documentaries, scripted dramas, and public affairs programs.
Children's programming is aired daily during a daytime television block branded as
TVOKids
TVOkids (short for TVOntariokids and stylized as tvokids) is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by TVOntario (TVO) in Canada. It was launched on April 1, 1994 and runs from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. The brand also operat ...
, with general-audience programming airing during prime time and overnight hours for adult viewers. Scripted dramas are typically foreign imports, past selections include the Danish political drama ''
Borgen
Borgen may refer to:
Places
* Borgen, Akershus, Norway
* Borgen, Oslo, a neighborhood of Oslo, Norway
**Borgen (station)
* Borgen, Ăstfold, a suburb of Sarpsborg, Norway
* Borgen, Ullensaker, Norway
* ''Borgen'' ('the castle'), colloquial name ...
'' and the British police procedural ''
New Tricks
''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural
The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the ...
''. TVO's first original drama series was ''
Hard Rock Medical
''Hard Rock Medical'' is a Canadian medical drama television series which aired on TVOntario (TVO) from 2013 to 2018. It was the first original drama series for TVO, the public television network for Ontario. The series also aired nationally in Can ...
'', a medical drama set in Sudbury, which aired from 2013 to 2018. Public affairs programming includes the flagship daily current affairs show ''The Agenda'' and an overnight rebroadcast of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario's Question Period from the Ontario Parliament Network.
All TVO programming is aired in English or in another language with English subtitles. French-language programs were previously shown on Sundays, from noon until sign-off, for the benefit of Franco-Ontarian viewers. The establishment of French counterpart network TFO led to the discontinuation of French-language programming on TVO by the mid-1990s.
Former programming
Earlier in TVO's history, all dramatic programming was required to have some educational content. Therefore actors, journalists or writers were hired to provide commentary on shows aired by TVO that would place them within an educational context. For instance, ''
Tom Grattan's War
''Tom Grattan's War'' was a British television series which ran from 1968 to 1970. The show revolved around the life of Tom Grattan who was sent to live with relatives in Yorkshire during the Great War.
Plotlines and setting
Tom Grattan was a 1 ...
'' was bookmarked by segments hosted by
Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and ''Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), ''W ...
that would use scenes from the series to discuss filmmaking techniques. Episodes of ''
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...
'' were hosted by journalist
Warner Troyer
Warner Troyer (6 January 1932 â 15 September 1991) was a Canadian broadcast journalist and writer.
Troyer was born in Cochrane, Ontario, the son of Gordon Troyer, a Presbyterian circuit minister. He lost his leg at a young age, and later worke ...
whose segments included interviews with the actors and a discussion of various psychological, philosophical or sociological themes regarding the series. Similarly, ''
Doctor Who'' was hosted by science fiction author
Judith Merril
Judith Josephine Grossman (January 21, 1923 â September 12, 1997), who took the pen-name Judith Merril around 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist, and one of the first women to be wid ...
who would discuss each week's episode to explore various themes in science and science fiction. ''
Saturday Night at the Movies'' continued to follow this format long after the requirement was dropped because of the popularity of its host,
Elwy Yost
Elwy McMurran Yost, (July 10, 1925 â July 21, 2011) was a Canadian television host, best known for hosting CBC Television's weekday '' Passport to Adventure'' series from 1965 to 1967, TVOntario's weekday ''Magic Shadows'', from 1974 until t ...
.
Distribution
TVO is Canada's oldest educational television service. It established the country's first
UHF television station in 1970, based in Toronto.
[. See page 10.] TVO used to have the largest over-the-air coverage in Ontario, reaching 98.5% of the province with
216 transmitters; however this is no longer the case as the broadcaster shuttered the majority of its analogue transmitters except those located in some mandatory markets, which were
converted to digital in 2011 (see "
Technical information" below). TVO is carried on all cable systems serving Ontario (the alternative choice for those viewers in area that has been served by one of the service's defunct analogue transmitters). On satellite systems in Ontario, it is carried on
Bell Satellite TV
Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television ser ...
channel 265, and on
Shaw Direct
Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from two commu ...
channel 155.
The main transmitter in Toronto uses the call sign CICA-DT, with its rebroadcasters using CICO-DT followed by a number to denote their status as rebroadcasters. Many analogue transmitters used CICA-TV and CICO-TV callsigns, in addition to CICE-TV, until the shutdown of TVO's remaining analogue transmitters on July 31, 2012.
TVO's transmitters are primarily located in Ontario, with the only exception being its Ottawa transmitter, CICO-DT-24, which is based at
Camp Fortune
Camp Fortune is a commercial alpine ski centre located in the municipality of Chelsea in the Gatineau Hills north of Gatineau, Quebec, approximately fifteen minutes from Downtown Ottawa, Ontario.
Camp Fortune is composed of three mountainsides ...
in
Chelsea, Quebec
Chelsea is a municipality located immediately north of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, and about north of Ottawa. Chelsea is located within Canada's National Capital Region. It is the seat of Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais Regional County Municipality ...
. There, it shares its site with its Quebec counterpart, Télé-Québec, and with most of the region's television and FM radio signals.
From the 1970s through the 1990s, TVO ran top-of-the-hour bumpers where an announcer would mention the channel allocation of the service's flagship station in Toronto, along with an allocation for one of its rebroadcast transmitters: "This is TVOntario. Channel 19 in Toronto, channel XX in (city/town/region)."
Technical information
Subchannel
Analogue-to-digital conversion
![TVO HD](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/TVO_HD.PNG)
In August 2010, TVO began broadcasting in
high-definition via a direct-to-cable HD feed. TVO commenced over-the-air HD broadcasting in August 2011, in compliance with the CRTC regulations. Except for Belleville, Chatham and Cloyne, TVO's transmitters are located within mandatory markets for conversion. Not all digital transmitters are currently broadcasting in high definition.
The Belleville, Chatham and Cloyne transmitters were converted to digital on new frequencies (but without high-definition, an on-channel program guide or other DTV-specific features), as channels 52 to 69 were being
reallocated for wireless communication purposes. The conversion of these transmitters took place before TVO's announcement to close down its analogue transmitter network outside the mandatory markets.
Transmitters
On January 25, 2017, TVO announced it would be shutting down eight of its nine remaining transmitters (a mere 5œ years after converting them to digital), leaving only CICA-DT at Toronto's
CN Tower
The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...
in operation to maintain their current license. CEO Lisa de Wilde announced that shutting down the transmitters would save the broadcaster an estimated $1 million per year, but would also lay off seven transmitter maintenance jobs. Critics of the decision, including the group
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (FRIENDS) is a Canadian advocacy group that monitors developments in the Canadian television and radio broadcasting industries. The group promotes expansion of public broadcasting, investment in Canadian content, a ...
, said that the changes would affect people who have no other options for accessing content.
TVO formally applied to the CRTC on January 25, 2017 to remove its eight transmitters outside Toronto from service.
In response to feedback from the towns and cities affected by the planned shutdown, as well as TVO donors and other groups, TVO reversed its decision to shut down the transmitters on February 17, 2017.
According to TVO, the Government of Ontario agreed to increase TVO's annual funding by $1 million to offset the amount that would have been saved by shutting down the transmitters. On March 1, 2017, TV
formally withdrewits CRTC application to delete its eight retransmitters from its licence.
In April 2017, ISED required TVO to move its newly-digital retransmitters serving Belleville, Chatham, Cloyne, Kitchener, and Windsor from out of the 600 MHz band between 2019 and 2020 as part of th
On April 17, 2020, the CRTC granted TVO permission to decrease its Chatham transmitter's maximum effective radiated power (ERP) from 2,250 to 1,000 watts. Even though this would reduce over-the-air access to viewers in the Chatham area, the CRTC approved TVO's request so that it could "reduce the costs associated with the required channel change by re-using its existing antenna" as part of Canada's 600 MHz spectrum repack. TVO announced it would make the change as of May 1, 2020. TVO similarly reduced the ERP of its other retransmitters required to move out of the 600 MHz band.
Former transmitters
![TVO Television antenna Sudbury](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/TVO_Television_antenna_Sudbury.jpg)
On July 31, 2012, TVO permanently shut down its remaining 114 analogue transmitters (14 full-power and 100 low-power) without converting them to digital; these were in areas of Ontario not considered "mandatory markets" for digital conversion by the CRTC. In many cases, TVO rebroadcasters were operating from CBC-owned transmitter sites and were shut down along with the CBC's analogue transmitters. Where TVO owned sites, it provided local communities the option of taking ownership of the towers and transmitters.
Low-power transmitters
Medium-power transmitters
High-power transmitters
Carriage dispute
On June 6, 2012, TVO dropped its signal from cable and satellite providers outside Ontario, due to a
carriage dispute
A carriage dispute is a disagreement over the right to "carry", that is, retransmit, a broadcaster's signal. Carriage disputes first occurred between broadcasters and cable companies and now include direct broadcast satellite and other multicha ...
over compensation for distributing its signal to its subscribers outside the province. The network reached an agreement with
Vidéotron
Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily ...
, and then entered negotiations with
Shaw Communications and
Telus
Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services ...
, but failed to reach an agreement with
Bell Canada. TVO cited that: "...we believe that we have a responsibility to earn revenues from the sale of our service outside of our home province. TVO is willing to consent to cable and satellite distributors carrying our signal outside the province, provided that we're fairly compensated. Since cable or satellite distributors receive subscriber revenues driven by having TVO as part of their offering, we feel it's reasonable to be compensated. Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement with Bell to compensate TVO for carrying our signal outside of Ontario, and the decision was made to cease offering our signal outside of Ontario." As a result, the only cable and satellite customers outside Ontario that can still view TVO are on the Quebec side of the
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
â
Gatineau market.
It is unknown if the dispute or carriage restrictions also apply to the few cable systems in the United States that carry TVO.
[Such as Comcast's cable system serving southern Oakland County, Michigan, per channel listings at zap2it.com, zip:"48067".]
References
External links
*
TVOKidsTribute to TVOKids shows from the 1970sCICA-TV/TVOntario History-
Canadian Communications Foundation
The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) is a Canadian nonprofit organization which documents the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television. Since 1995, the organization has distributed its collection via an inter ...
*
*
**''(Recnet links cover all repeaters using the above call signs)''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tvontario
1970 establishments in Ontario
Crown corporations of Ontario
Television channels and stations established in 1970