Broadcast Dialogue

You thinkyou know the ropes –then, suddenly,you don’tTFO, Ontario’s French-language television channel, is on-air 21 hours a day, programming 600hours a year of fresh content. It also operates 85 different websites, maintains a network presenceon Facebook and podcasts at least two of its own original programs.TFO is all digital and all tapeless. And it has no master control—that critical function, together withhosting of all the websites, has been effectively and beneficially outsourced.Following two years of re-orientation, independence, geographical and technological transformation,is TFO the new face of broadcasting?The Origins of TFOTFO is the full-fledged independent broadcast entity which has evolved after years of provincial supportfor French-language television programming in Ontario. For 10 years starting in the 1970s, 17 hours aweek of French-language programming was produced under the aegis of TVOntario, Ontario’s provincialeducational network. Those hours of French-language programming eventually evolved into La ChaîneFrançaise, launched January 1, 1987.Clockwise from top left:Eric Minoli, TFO Chiefof Information andBroadcast Technologies;Claudette Paquin, TFOChief Executive Officer;Claude Sauvé, TFODirector of Programming;and Christiane Scher,TFO Chief OperatingOfficerBY DAPHNE LAVERS6 BROADCAST DIALOGUE—The Voice of Broadcasting in Canada DECEMBER 2009/JANUARY 2010