Chinavision Canada
Chinavision was a Canadian television broadcasting company.
It was launched in 1984 by Francis Cheung of Toronto to provide a first pay-TV station for Chinese language viewers in Toronto and Vancouver. The station's content was roughly 90% Cantonese and 10% Mandarin.
The station expanded to Edmonton and Calgary in 1987 by acquiring Cathay International Television. The station rights were later sold to The Fairchild Group (owned by Happy Valley Investments Limited via Thomas Fung) and Condor (owned by TVB Limited of Hong Kong) after receivership in 1990, to form Fairchild TV in 1993.
Content
Contingent on the application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Chinavision was required to have minimum of 30% Canadian made programs with the remainder from sources outside of Canada (mainly Hong Kong, China).
Broadcasting time
Chinavision's broadcaster hours were limited to two periods:
- 4:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. weekdays
- 2:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on weekends
Original broadcast time was from 5pm to 1am daily.
Programming in Toronto was replayed in Vancouver and other markets.[1]
Studios
Studios in Toronto were located within the city and moved after the sale to Fairchild to Richmond Hill.
Former staff
A number of TVB staff and other Hong Kong personalities were hired or worked with the station from 1984 to 1990s:
- Louise Li - Hong Kong actress was newspresenter in Toronto in the 1980s
- Lau Dan - Hong Kong actor who briefly worked for the station
- Ivan Ho - Hong Kong actor who briefly worked for the station