TFO

TFO (Télévision française de l'Ontario) is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (French: Office des télécommunications éducatives de langue française de l'Ontario, OTÉLFO), a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario and trading as Groupe Média TFO. It is the only French-language television service in Canada that operates entirely outside Quebec. The network airs cultural programming, including blocks of French-language children's programs, along with original series, documentaries, and films. The network was first established in 1987 as La Chaîne TVO, a spin-off of the provincial English-language public broadcaster TVO, later re-branding as TFO in 1997. The network operated under the auspices of TVO until 2007, when it was spun off into an autonomous agency. TFO is available on multichannel television providers throughout Ontario; all cable and IPTV providers in the province are required to carry it on their basic tier. TFO is also carried nationally on the Bell Satellite TV and Shaw Direct satellite television services. 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. Groupe Média TFO also manages 200 websites, 20 mobile applications and games, 15 subscription platforms, 14 social media platforms and various YouTube channels.