TVOntario

Encyclopedia : T : TV : TVO : TVOntario

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. [link]

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, and on the StarChoice satellite service on Channel 353.

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

All TVO transmitters are in Ontario, with one exception -- its Ottawa transmitter, CICO-TV-24, is based at Camp Fortune in Gatineau, Quebec, where it shares its site with its francophone competitor, Télé-Québec, as well as almost all of the region's television and FM radio signals.

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. TVOntario is also responsible for over-the-air broadcasts of the Ontario Legislative Assembly in some smaller Ontario communities.

History

An early OECA TV logo

A TVO logo from the mid-to-late 1970s or 1980s

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

The CBC, acting on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Education's TV branch, eventually applied for and won a license for the ministry's 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. CBC initially operated the CICA transmitter while the OECA would be in charge of programming; OECA would assume 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 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 1974, 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. (The transmitter is actually located in Gatineau, Quebec.)

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 plan, but did cut its budget.

The positions of chair and CEO were divided in 2005 with film producer Peter O'Brian being appointed chair and Lisa de Wilde becoming 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 (to debut in September 2006), and More to Life and Vox were also cancelled. The move to digitize services represents a transition; the Globe and Mail quoted TVOntario 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.”

Chairs and CEOs of TVOntario

• T. Ronald Ide (1970-1979)
• Dr. Jim Parr (1979-1985)
• John Radford (interim)
• Bernard Ostry (1985-1991)
• Peter Herrndorf (1992-1999)
• Isabel Bassett (1999-2005)
• Peter O'Brian, chair (2005-Present); Lisa de Wilde, CEO (2005-Present)

Programming

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.

Initially, all dramatic programming was required to have some educational content. Actors, journalists or writers were hired to provide commentary on shows. Doctor Who, for example, was hosted by science fiction author Judith Merril. Saturday Night at the Movies continued to follow this format long after the requirement was dropped simply because of the popularity of its host, Elwy Yost.

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 noon, while the English TVO channel presented La Chaîne française programming at that time. This was done to give francophones without cable some French service, and discontinued in the 1990s after TFO began launching broadcast transmitters in some franco-ontarian communities.

Noted shows

• Artscape
• Big Ideas
• Book Mice
• Diplomatic Immunity
• Distinguished Artists
• Doctor Who
• Eureka!
• Fourth Reading
• Human Edge
• Imprint
• Join In
• Masterworks
• Parlez-moi
• Polka Dot Door
• Polka Dot Shorts
• Reach for the Top (Ontario)
• Read All About It!
• Readalong
• Report Canada with Heather Conkie
• Saturday Night at the Movies
• The Science Alliance
• Studio 2
• Today's Special
• TVOKids
• ''The View From Here
• ''VoxTalk

References

External links

• [Official Site]
• [TVOntario Corporate]
• [TVO KIDS]
• [OECA/TVO history and History of Educational Broadcasting]