TVOntario's predecessor, the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, produced children's and educational programming which was aired on commercial television stations.
The OECA eventually applied for and won a license for its own television station in Toronto, Ontario, which went on the air in 1970. In the latter half of the 1970s, the network began adding transmitters in other Ontario communities, and now serves 98.5 per cent of Ontario households, on 216 transmitters throughout the province.
The OECA changed its name to TVOntario in 1981.
TVOntario is Canada's oldest educational TV service, and the country's second oldest UHF TV channel. TVOntario's daytime schedule is mostly children's programming. One of the network's most famous children's series is Polka Dot Door. In the evenings, TVOntario runs a mixture of documentary, drama and public affairs programming for adult audiences, including the popular Saturday Night at the Movies, which presents classic films with commentary and interview segments.
TVOntario also runs TFO, a French-language public educational network for franco-ontarian audiences. TFO, which commenced operations in 1987, is available only on cable in most areas of the province, although the network does also broadcast over the air in some communities with significant francophone populations.TFO