| provincewide Ontario | |
|---|---|
| City of license | Hawkesbury, Ontario |
| Branding | TFO |
| Channels | Analog: see below |
| Owner | Government of Ontario (Ontario French-Language Educational Communications Authority) |
| First air date | January 1, 1987 |
| Call letters' meaning | CHaîne Langue Française |
| Website | TFO (French) |
TFO is a Canadian French language educational public television network in the province of Ontario. It is the only French-language television network in Canada whose operations are based entirely outside of Quebec.
Formerly owned and operated by TVOntario, TFO became an independent agency of the provincial government of Ontario in 2007.
TFO is available on cable throughout Ontario, and all cable companies in the province are required to carry it. However, the network does also broadcast over the air in some communities in Eastern and Northern Ontario with significant Franco-Ontarian populations. TFO is also carried via satellite on Bell TV channel 137. It was also seen on Star Choice channel 763 until August 28, 2008, when the service dropped the station.[1]
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TFO launched in 1987 as La Chaîne Française (also known on-air as La Chaîne), and was renamed "TFO" (short for Télé-Française d'Ontario) in 1994.
Prior to the launch of La Chaîne, TVOntario broadcast in French on Sundays from noon until sign-off. For the first several years of La Chaîne's operations, this continued and La Chaîne broadcast in English during the same time block, because TFO was only available on cable and the government wanted to ensure that Franco-Ontarian viewers without cable still had access to a block of French-language programming. As transmitters were added in a number of French-speaking communities, the practice was eventually discontinued.
TFO is also available to cable viewers in New Brunswick, as the government of New Brunswick does not have the financial resources to offer its own French-language public television network. Consequently, all program announcements on TFO provide airtimes in both Eastern and Atlantic Time for viewers in both Ontario and Acadia. TFO also applied to the CRTC for mandatory cable carriage in Quebec, but was refused because Quebec already has a similar service, Télé-Québec.[2] However, some cable companies in Quebec offer TFO at their own discretion. An example of this is Vidéotron, which added the station to its "Illico" Digital cable service, on channel 94 on September 30, 2004.
As part of a restructuring of TVOntario announced by the McGuinty government on June 29, 2006,[3] TFO was taken over by a new, separate provincial Crown corporation, the Ontario French-Language Educational Communications Authority (Office des télécommunications éducatives de langue française de l’Ontario or OTÉLFO)[4] in 2007, with separate management and its own budget.[5]
Although the licence transfer was not officially approved by the CRTC until June 28, 2007, TFO nonetheless announced its autonomy from TVOntario effective April 1.[6]
The network's first independent chair is Gisèle Chrétien.
TFO is also a partner in TV5 Québec Canada, which airs some of TFO's programming.
On March 31, 2009, TFO launched an HD simulcast of TFO called TFO HD. TFO HD currently only broadcasts as a cable and satellite only feed and does not broadcast over-the-air.
The station has a total annual budget of $21 million.
Current programs include a range of children's programming, documentaries, and films. Due to the limited commercial media service available to Franco-Ontarians, TFO has also invested in drama and comedy programming. The drama series Francoeur, launched in 2003, and the sitcom Météo+, launched in 2008, were each the first French language program of their type ever produced for a Franco-Ontarian audience.
A partial list of the children's programs includes:
Documentary programs and series include:
Other programs that have aired on TFO include:
All of the station's over-the-air transmitters have the call sign CHLF, followed by a number to denote their status as rebroadcasters. The network's first transmitter was added in Sudbury in 1989. The Sudbury transmitter is the network's most powerful, and is numbered as the primary transmitter, although the CRTC recognises the transmitter CHLF-2 in Hawkesbury as the primary station. This is presumably because this transmitter is located halfway between Montreal, Canada's primary francophone television market, and Ottawa, the national capital and also home to a large francophone population. However, the transmitter's signal is marginal at best in both of these cities.
Besides Sudbury, Hawkesbury, Temiskaming Shores and Pembroke, all other communities that receive TFO on the regular airwaves are isolated communities in Northern Ontario, many of which also receive the Ontario Parliament Network over the regular airwaves as well.
In addition to local cable services, TFO is available across Canada on Bell TV.
As part of the transfer of TFO to its own management, the former transmitters in Sultan, Oba and Jogues were taken out of service.[7]
| Station | City of licence | Analog channel | Digital channel | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter Coordinates | Notes | CRTC Decisions |
| CHLF-TV-1 | Sudbury | 25 (UHF) | 20 | 282.5 kW | 171.9 m | First transmitter, launched January 1, 1987 | 87-737 | |
| CHLF-TV-2 | Hawkesbury | 39 (UHF) | 31 | 10 kW | 100 m | Put into service on March 1, 1989 | ||
| CHLF-TV-3 | Evanturel | 22 (UHF) | 0.02 kW | NA | near Englehart | 90-266 | ||
| CHLF-TV-4 | Harris | 16 (UHF) | 0.02 kW | NA | near Temiskaming Shores | 90-267 | ||
| CHLF-TV-5 | Hawk Junction | 19 (UHF) | 0.02 kW | NA | 90-268 | |||
| CHLF-TV-6 | Lac-Sainte-Thérèse | 32 (UHF) | 0.02 kW | NA | ||||
| CHLF-TV-7 | Mishkeegogamang (New Osnaburgh) |
20 (UHF) | 0.02 kW | NA | 90-270 | |||
| CHLF-TV-9 | Brethour | 26 (UHF) | 0.02 kW | NA | 90-264 | |||
| CHLF-TV-10 | Longlac | 17 (UHF) | 0.04 kW | NA | 90-931 | |||
| CHLF-TV-12 | Summer Beaver | 11 (VHF) | 0.005 kW | NA | ||||
| CHLF-TV-13 | Pembroke | 17 (UHF) | 39 | 113.8 kW | 188 m | 91-291 | ||
| CHLF-TV-14 | Kirby's Corner | 51 (UHF) | 0.04 kW | NA | 91-846 | |||
| CHLF-TV-15 | Kaboni | 28 (UHF) | 0.04 kW | NA | 92-295 | |||
| CHLF-TV-16 | Val Rita | 28 (UHF) | 0.02 kW | NA | 95-789 | |||
| CHLF-TV-18 | Nakina | 9 (VHF) | 0.01 kW | NA |
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