TVO'S Chief Executive Officer asks Ontarians to "Go Public" for TVO

    
    -  Lisa de Wilde launches "Go Public" fundraising campaign at The
       Economic Club of Canada, asking Ontarians to help take the province's
       public educational TV to the next level.
    

TORONTO , Feb. 3 /CNW/ - Addressing a seasoned group of business leaders at the Sutton Place Hotel, Lisa de Wilde, TVO's Chief Executive Officer, today made a case for why all Ontarians have a lot to gain from a greater personal investment in public educational television.

"TVO today is the thinking man's, woman's and children's network - one of the few anywhere," de Wilde told the Economic Club audience. "We're offering an alternative to the world of instant news, information deluge and content lacking rigour."

"But we're not just a TV channel anymore," added de Wilde. "Our footprint is growing: across multiple platforms, across the province, across cultures and across traditional programming boundaries."

TVO has focused heavily over the past three years on innovation and digital media tools to deliver on its three-pronged educational mandate: helping kids be successful learners; supporting parents' active involvement in their kids' learning; and creating meaningful opportunities for citizen engagement.

Eighty percent of TVO's funding comes from the province - the operating grant amounts to only about three dollars per person in Ontario per year. De Wilde described the need for significantly more donor support in TVO's funding model. "It's clear to me that we have to adopt a new model, more along the lines of the province's universities and hospitals, where the bulk of funding may come from the government, but more and more comes from the private sector, including individual donors."

To complement its generous funding from the Ontario Government and to continue to innovate, TVO needs to raise $10 million per year from donations. "What do people do when they feel strongly about something? They go public with it," said de Wilde. "I want to enlist you as early adopters of a movement called Go Public that we want all Ontarians to join."

The new campaign can already be seen on TVO's airwaves and website, with TVO staff and donors as ambassadors, urging Ontarians to "Go Public" in support of TVO's future excellence.

Quick Facts:

    
    -  TVO has evolved from a single television station to a multi-platform
       media organization with five distinct channels of learning - TVO,
       TVOKids, tvo.org, tvokids.com, and tvoparents.com

    -  TVO produces more than 400 hours of in-house TV programming per year
       plus both for adults and children, most of which is available online,
       plus hundreds of microsites, games, chats, blogs and more

    -  TVO also distributes its content via partnerships with YouTube, Yahoo!
       Canada, iTunes and Rogers-on-demand-online

    -  Last season there were 5.2 million podcast downloads of TVO current
       affairs programs

    -  TVO's YouTube channel has had 220,000 video streams since its Spring
       2009 launch

    -  TVO's Big Ideas is the No.1 podcast in the iTunes Higher Education
       category in Canada and No.2 in the US

    -  TVO was the first Canadian broadcaster to launch early learner
       educational iphone app - "Melvin's Marvellous Words"

    -  TVOKids.com averages 5 million page views per month
    

About TVO

A registered charity, TVO is Ontario's public educational media organization and a trusted source of interactive educational content that informs, inspires and stimulates curiosity and thought. TVO's vision is to empower people to be engaged citizens of Ontario through educational media. For more information, visit www.tvo.org.

About Lisa de Wilde

http://www.ecot.ca/speakers/Lisa_de_Wilde

For a complete transcript of the speech click here

To view Go Public spots click here

Where to find TVO

Cable channel 2 (channel may vary in some areas), Bell TV channel 265, Shaw Direct channel 353.

For further information: Media contact: Teresa Roncon, Corporate Relations, Bus: [phone], Cell: [phone], [email protected]