TVOntario (TVO) is an educational public television station in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is owned directly by the provincial government of Ontario but, unlike the federally owned CBC, TVO is largely funded by donations from the public (particularly from viewer pledge drive contributions), much like the American PBS.

TVOntario 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.

All TVOntario 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, TVOntario aired French language programming on Sundays.

History

CICA's history dates back to 1970, when its parent organization, the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, was created by former 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 privatize TVO. Although they never carried through on this threat, they did severely cut its budget.

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

Programming

See: List of TVOntario programs

TVO shows a mixture of original shows, children's programming, British imports, and movies from around the world. TVOntario'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, TVOntario 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.

Noted shows

• Distinguished Artists
• Polka Dot Door
• Polka Dot Shorts
• Reach for the Top (Ontario)
• Studio 2
• Saturday Night at the Movies
• Today's Special

External links

• TVOntario's Programming Website
• TVOntario's Corporate Website