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TVO (stylized as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a publicly funded English-language
educational television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable telev ...
network and media organization serving the
Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of Ontario. It operates
flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...
CICA-DT (channel 19) in Toronto, which also relays programming across portions of Ontario through eight rebroadcast stations. All pay television ( cable, satellite, IPTV) providers throughout Ontario are required to carry TVO on their basic tier, and programming can be streamed for free online within Canada. TVO is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority (OECA), a
Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
owned by the Government of Ontario, which since 2022 has done business as the TVO Media Education Group (or TVO.me). TVO.me also operates TVO Today, TVO ILC, TVO Learn, and TVOKids.


Governance, funding and other responsibilities

TVO is governed by a volunteer
board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
, and supported by a network of regional councillors from across the province. TVO also reports to the
Ontario legislature The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...
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 (CBC)'s television services, which shows commercial advertisements, TVO chose a commercial-free model similar to the Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) 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 in Quebec and Knowledge Network 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 The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Member of Provincial ...
in some remote Northern Ontario communities that do not receive cable television access to the
Ontario Parliament Network The Ontario Parliament Network (stylized ONT.PARL since 2018) is a television channel in the Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, established in 1986 to broadcast the parliamentary procedure, parliamentary proceedings of the Legislative Assembl ...
. In 2002, the Ministry of Education transferred responsibility for the Independent Learning Centre—the agency which provides distance education 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 Franco-Ontarians (french: Franco-Ontariens or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2016, the Government of On ...
audiences. Before the launch of TFO, TVO aired
French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
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 GroupeMédia 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 for the
Northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the ...
region,
Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...
for Northeastern Ontario,
Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...
for Eastern Ontario, and London for
Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...
. In 2019, the service also launched an Indigenous hub to cover First Nations issues throughout the province.


History


1970s

The Ontario Educational Communications Authority (OECA) was created in June 1970 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 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. 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. 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 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 The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after ...
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.


1980s–1990s

In 1987, TVOntario launched ''La Chaîne française'', a French-language public television network which became TFO in 1995. The Ontario government under Mike Harris promised to privatize TVOntario. They never carried through on this plan, but did cut its budget.


2000s

The positions of chair and CEO were divided in 2005. Film producer Peter O'Brian was appointed chairman and
Lisa de Wilde Lisa de Wilde (born 1956) is a Canadian film and television executive, was the CEO of TVOntario from 2005 to 2019. She retired on October 30, 2019. De Wilde previously worked at the CRTC for seven years before moving into the private sector and ev ...
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'' was replaced by '' The Agenda'', 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 testing, was transferred from the Ministry of Education to TVO.


Chairs and CEOs

* Thomas Ide (1970–1979) *
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 ...
(1979–1985) * 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 ...
(1985–1991) *
Peter Herrndorf Peter A. Herrndorf (October 27, 1940 – 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 ...
(1992–1999) *
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 times ...
(1999–2005) ''The positions of Chair of the Board and CEO were divided in 2005''


Chair

* Peter O'Brian (2005–2018) * Chris Day (2020–present)


CEO

*
Lisa de Wilde Lisa de Wilde (born 1956) is a Canadian film and television executive, was the CEO of TVOntario from 2005 to 2019. She retired on October 30, 2019. De Wilde previously worked at the CRTC for seven years before moving into the private sector and ev ...
(2005–2019) * Jeffrey Orridge (November 30, 2020 — 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, 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'' and the British police procedural '' New Tricks''. TVO's first original drama series was '' Hard Rock Medical'', 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'' was bookmarked by segments hosted by Andrea Martin that would use scenes from the series to discuss filmmaking techniques. Episodes of '' The Prisoner'' were hosted by journalist
Warner Troyer Warner Troyer (6 January 1932 – 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 ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' was hosted by science fiction author Judith Merril who would discuss each week's episode to explore various themes in science and science fiction. ''
Saturday Night at the Movies ''Saturday Night at the Movies'' was a weekly television series on TVOntario, the public educational television network in Ontario, Canada. The series presented classic movies, followed by interviews and feature segments with directors, actors ...
'' 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 – 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 th ...
.


Distribution

TVO is Canada's oldest educational television service. It established the country's first
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
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 channel 265, and on Shaw Direct 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. 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

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 5½ years after converting them to digital), leaving only CICA-DT at Toronto's CN Tower 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 withdrew
its 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

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 over compensation for distributing its signal to its subscribers outside the province. The network reached an agreement with Vidéotron, and then entered negotiations with
Shaw Communications Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...
and Telus, but failed to reach an agreement with
Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...
. 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 ...
Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...
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 Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
's cable system serving southern
Oakland County, Michigan Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan, b ...
, per channel listings at zap2it.com, zip:"48067".


References


External links

*
TVO TodayTVO LearnTVOKidsTribute to TVOKids shows from the 1970sCICA-TV/TVOntario History
- Canadian Communications Foundation * * **''(Recnet links cover all repeaters using the above call signs)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tvo 1970 establishments in Ontario Crown corporations of Ontario Television channels and stations established in 1970