In May 1999, I wrote this article in collaboration with Judith Tobin and Elaine Legault, Leto Consulting. It was then translated into French and published in Télévision Éducative : que veut le public?, coordinated by Michèle Cohen and Manfred Meyer, Centre national de documentation pédagogique, Paris, 2000.

Through interviews, statistical comparison, and background discussion, Educational Television in Canada: 'Television that matters' profiles Canada's five provincial educational broadcasters, Knowledge Network, ACCESS Alberta, the Saskatchewan Communications Network, TVOntario, and Télé-Québec, and previews the then-new national specialty service, Canadian Learning Television. Programmers and executives from each network outline their offerings for children at home, curriculum support, adult informal learning, and Canada's Native people; as well as the growing use of new technologies. The broadcasters identify key challenges for the future, notably financial ones, and their plans for tackling them.

My biggest challenge with this project was organizational: creating a narrative line that would sustain the reader's interest through the telling of the five broadcasters' variations on each theme. How to ensure that the tale didn't bog down in repetition? Two main strategies. First, be selective rather than comprehensive: go for the best example; forego duplicates. Second, allow broadcasters and viewers to tell their stories in their own words. The differences in everyone's verbal styles add linguistic variety (as well as authenticity, of course!).

The second wrinkle was that the reader was likely to be a French (from France) educator. In other words, I could assume no prior knowledge about Canada, our education or television systems -- but a fair sophistication about pedagogy. I'd have to cover certain basics, but still write for professional expertise.

My third major challenge was revising the French translation of the article -- as a whole, beautifully accomplished by a European translator, who unfortunately had little familiarity with the language of North American broadcast practices. It took some work and consultation with Canadian experts to maintain the sense of the piece in its new language.

Introduction

"When the children were young [the educational television service] was the only channel I could trust for them to watch. I knew that the programs would be interesting and educational -- as well as delightful. They were in French immersion school so the French language programming was unique and helpful. Now the documentaries, especially nature programs focussing on Ontario, current affairs and classic movies, are our main focus."

-- Participant in Toronto community forum, quoted in "What We Heard About TVOntario", the report of the TVOntario Community Forum Panel, 1998

 

The fact that these remarks were made at a community hearing during the Ontario government's review of TVOntario -- a review which weighed the benefits of privatizing the substantially publicly funded service -- suggests the context in which educational broadcasting now operates. Canada's 30-year tradition of publicly-funded educational television is under close scrutiny as governments evaluate the return on their investments, re-prioritize the allocation of scarce resources, and determine how best to meet their constituents' educational and cultural needs....

Through this time of stress and change, Canada's educational television services have continued to provide programming to their many and varied audiences. Many individuals have responded with strong feelings of loyalty and connection. In fact, opinion polls conducted separately in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia found that respondents felt keen affiliation with their respective publicly funded educational broadcasters and believed that their public funding should continue. And while ACCESS as a for-profit station may not generate feelings of belonging among its viewers, the appeal of its programming is such that its audiences continue to grow, as do its advertising revenues.

How do Canada's four public and one private educational broadcasters build loyalty and meet their audiences' needs?

Essentially by providing high-quality educational television programming that is unusual in its market; occasionally risk taking and provocative, but frequently crowd-pleasing; and responsive to specific provincial needs and realities.

Or, as then TVOntario chairman Peter Herrndorf put it in a 1998 speech, "It was clear that in the 100 channel universe anticipated in the late '90s, TVO and TFO would have to differentiate themselves clearly ... by having a distinctive identity and a much sharper program focus. TVOntario set out to become the television organization that symbolized "quality" in this county -- the best alternative television service in Canada. ...Our television services ... we decided ... would have to be community based, educational, non-commercial and would have to matter in the lives of our viewers. And they would have to be lively, innovative and have first class production values."

Highlights of the broadcasters' current practices will illustrate how they have brought these aspects into play. And an indication of future trends and challenges will close our discussion. But to begin, some basics of educational television in Canada.

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