TFO

TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario.

The network previously broadcast over-the-air in some communities in Eastern and Northern Ontario with significant Franco-Ontarian populations; these transmitters ceased operations in 2012.

[4] By the 1980s, the provincial government concluded that a separate francophone educational network was needed to prevent the "ghettoization" of the Franco-Ontarian community.

[5] In 1985, the Ontario Ministry of Municipal and Cultural Affairs, together with Communications Canada, approved the creation of an Ontario-based French-language educational television network.

At the time, the only portions of Ontario with access to a dedicated francophone educational television service were the National Capital Region and the Ottawa Valley, which were served by Radio-Québec outlet CIVO-TV in Hull.

The company would remain a part of TVO until 2007 when it was transferred to the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority, a separate crown corporation.

[12] As part of a restructuring of TVO announced by the McGuinty government on June 29, 2006,[15] 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)[16] in 2007, with separate management and its own budget.

[17] Although the licence transfer was not officially approved by the CRTC until June 28, 2007, TFO nonetheless announced its autonomy from TVO effective April 1.

[18] GroupeMédia TFO is funded mainly by the Government of Ontario, through the Ministry of Education, with an annual budget of $31 million.

[25] It also aired a francophone dub of the 1970s English Canadian children's series Matt and Jenny, under the title La route de l'amitié.

[32] In October 2013 BRBR teamed with Deezer to launch an online radio station dedicated to the music of Francophone Canadians.

[38] The channel also sponsors live tours of its affiliated acts, specifically in remote areas of Ontario.

TFO itself has training programs to teach educators how to use video materials in the classroom, attended by 2,000 teachers per year.

Besides Sudbury, Hawkesbury, Temiskaming Shores and Pembroke, TFO otherwise transmitted over the air mainly in isolated portions of Northern Ontario without access to cable.

TFO's second logo from 1997 to 2001
TFO's third logo from 2001 to 2012
TFO's fourth logo from 2012 to 2020
Staff shuttering TVO/TFO tower in Sudbury July 12, 2012