target classrooms

Montreal: The cable industry will formally launch its Canadian Cable in the Classroom program at this month’s Canadian Cable Television Association convention in Halifax, May 28 to June 2.

The multimillion dollar initiative is a partnership with many of the country’s leading broadcasters and educators, and is aimed at hooking up most of Canada’s 16,000 primary and secondary schools.

Cable in the Classroom executive director Shari Baldwin says the program commits member cable operators and broadcasters to deliver copyright-cleared, commercial-free educational programming to English- and French-speaking classrooms.

‘This is a national program and a positive program from the cable industry,’ says Baldwin. ‘For the first time teachers will have legal access in the classroom to CBC Newsworld, YTV News, cnn, The Learning Channel, rdi and Discovery Channel.’

Baldwin says the willingness of program suppliers to provide copyright clearance overcomes a major obstacle for schools, which traditionally lack effective programming because their public performance status places them on the same footing as movie theaters.

She expects 140 hours a month of educational programs to be made available in all major cable centers, less in other areas, with program packages both downloaded at the school for prerecording and at home where they can be previewed by parents and teachers.

As for the cable companies, they’ve committed to investing up to $1,500 per school towards the cost of the hookup.

Known in French as La cablo-education, hookup of the schools will be rolled out through to December 1997.

Baldwin says the program is also aimed at developing important student media skills, adding that cultural programs from suppliers like Vision TV, MuchMusic, Musique Plus and ytv will better reflect the ethnic and racial composition of most classrooms across the country.

Other participating program suppliers include The Weather Network/Meteomedia, tvontario, Knowledge Network, Arts & Entertainment, Canal Famille, c-pac, the parliamentary channel, community channels, La chaine francaise, tsn/rds and Life Network.

The programming commitment will be backed by a ‘cyberspace’ advisory committee, says Baldwin, and includes free or low-cost support materials, a regular listings guide and waiving affiliation fees for participating schools.

Baldwin says the ccta program comes at a time when many teachers and schools are facing budget cutbacks and classes are overpopulated.

The program’s content potential seems obvious.

For example, French becomes more readily available in classrooms because of the participation of rdi and TV5, and Baldwin says ytv has produced a video to explain the program to cable companies and schools.