TORONTO – A spin-off of TFO and a transition to digital by September 2007 are just two planks in the new strategic plan for TVOntario.
TVOntario CEO Lisa de Wilde, who has been spearheading the new strategic agenda since her arrival at the provincial public broadcaster last September, said anew content strategy responds to Ministry of Education priorities – and new directions in revenue generation will address the organization’s long-term sustainability.
Here’s the lowdown, from the TVO release:
* TFO (TVO’s French-language channel) will become a separate, stand-alone organization, with its own board, management and budget. "This is a natural evolution for TFO and flows from its current successes, as well as from the needs of the Francophone communities that TFO serves." said de Wilde. A transition plan will be submitted to the Ontario government by the end of this year.
* At the heart of TVO’s new strategy is its digital production and multi-platform distribution strategy. "With the financial support of the Ministry of Education, TVO will convert its production facilities from analog to digital technology by September 2007," says the release. "Our Strategic Agenda is all about making TVO more relevant to Ontarians," said de Wilde. "As customers seek more control over how, when and where they consume content, we will offer digital content on many different platforms."
* Over the next 15 months TVO will roll out a new content strategy "that is aligned with Ministry of Education priorities," says the release. "We now have a clear strategy focusing on content that supports learning outside the classroom for children and their parents," added de Wilde, "and content that fosters citizenship by engaging people as active participants in the public issues defining our society."
* TVO will focus on early childhood education, and specifically on literacy and numeric development for preschoolers. For school-aged kids, TVO will focus on keeping them interested and engaged in learning with fun, educational content, and equipping them with the tools to use educational media in a positive way in their lives. Continuous TVOKids programming throughout the daytime will be introduced on television this fall, representing a weekly increase of 13 hours.
Tvokids.com will enrich its learning content for children with more webcasts, more interactive opportunities and more challenging activities and games. "We believe every child should have the opportunity arrive at school ready to learn," said de Wilde. "The most valuable contribution we can make to children is to encourage them to succeed in school."
A dedicated online community for parents will also be launched, offering access to research on the latest thinking and practices in education, downloadable tools and an environment for parents to share their ideas and views with TVO and with each other.
* All content for adults, whatever the genre, will be anchored in citizenship and public engagement. TVO is developing a new nightly prime-time current affairs flagship program, replacing Studio 2, called The Agenda with Steve Paikin, set to launch this fall.
It will help contextualize the many complex issues related to how we as citizens function in society, says the release. The program’s single-issue format will deliver more in-depth discussion on the issues that define our society and more voices and viewpoints, reflecting the diversity of today’s Ontario.
It will also introduce user-generated content, and give Ontarians a voice through monthly public forums, all delivered on multiple platforms.
Person 2 Person with Paula Todd will return as a weekly series with a more focused mandate: through the stories of individuals it will explore cultural, political, and socio-economic issues around citizenship, said the TVO release.
Other in-house productions not returning in the fall are the daytime information program More to Life and the weekly teen talk show Vox.
* TVO will continue its commitment to partnering with the industry’s independent production community to source and create relevant films and documentaries that meet its definition of educational
content.
"The need for a public educational media organization is greater today than ever," said de Wilde. "Whether we’re equipping kids to succeed in school or serving as a navigator that helps citizens to make sense of the world around them, TVO’s role is clearly defined."
"I believe the organization has built sound content and distribution strategies that will energize its relationship with Ontarians, while clearly supporting the education priorities of the government," said Education Minister Sandra Pupatello.
* A priority for the organization is to build a sustainable business model. This will involve creating new revenue streams. "All media organizations are grappling with the need to create new revenue streams and viable business models in the Internet age," said de Wilde. "We are confident that the shifts in our content and distribution activities will open up many new opportunities in revenue generation and move the organization to financial sustainability."
TVO will establish an incubator capability to develop and test new ideas and technologies for digital content and multi-platform distribution, with a view to driving innovation and developing new strategic alliances and revenue opportunities.
"We are very excited about this opportunity to revitalize TVO for the digital world, and to offer more ways for Ontarians to have active and engaging experiences with our content," said TVOntario board chairman Peter O’Brian.
