Governance, Funding and Other Responsibilities
TVO is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, and supported by a network of Regional Councillors from across the province. TVO also reports to the Ontario legislature through the Minister of Education, in accordance with the Ontario Educational Communications Authority Act.
Instead of following the model of the federally owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which shows commercials, TVO is instead, like fellow provincial counterpart Knowledge in British Columbia and PBS in the United States. Despite viewer donations, the majority of TVO's funding is provided by the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Education, which provides $30 million annually.
As well, TVO is also responsible for over-the-air broadcasts of the Ontario Legislative Assembly in some remote Northern Ontario communities that do not receive cable television access to the Ontario Parliament Network.
In 2002, the Ministry of Education transferred responsibility to TVO for the Independent Learning Centre which provides distance education at the elementary and secondary school level.
TVO used to operate TFO, a separate similar network for Franco-Ontarian audiences. Before the launch of TFO, TVO aired French-language programming on Sundays. Even after TFO's launch, TVO and TFO swapped programming on Sundays well into the 1990s. TFO was separated from TVO and incorporated as an independent agency in 2007.
TVOntario's budget is $60 million (2011).
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