In the recent Ontario government announcement that tvontario would not be privatized, the province committed to providing tvo with $48 million in funding for the ’98/99 fiscal, representing 80% of the public broadcaster’s $71-million operating budget.

The previous year the Ontario government provided tvo with $49.5 million.

In the restructuring decision, tvo has passed from the culture to the education ministry, with its mandate ‘refocused on lifelong learning.’ The broadcast and non-broadcast educational activities of tvo have been separated into two divisions, TVO Broadcasting and the Ontario Centre for Advanced Technology in Learning.

Until a committee struck to formulate a business plan and implementation strategy for the new division makes its recommendations, the impact of the restructuring remains unknown.

Reps at tvo say they do not anticipate any change in programming.

tvo will continue to have a mix of formal and informal learning programs, primetime and kids’ programming, says head of documentaries and science Rudy Buttignol.

Buttignol applauds the government decision to separate tvo’s broadcast and non-broadcast activities. ‘It is a vote of confidence that publicly funded educational broadcasting has a role and should be separated from these other educational and training initiatives and be allowed to work on these strengths as a standalone vision,’ he says.

The new Ontario Centre for Advanced Technology in Learning will be responsible for the non-broadcast educational component and will assist the educational community in taking advantage of new technologies and educational initiatives and establish educational technology standards. Public/private partnerships will play a role in the new division.

tvo has just taken account of its membership drive for the ’97/98 television season and reports a record year. The on-air membership campaign raised $1,750,000 in contributions, an increase of 14% over the previous year. Combined with direct mail and membership renewals, the total tally is $6,850,000.

tvo’s membership drives, corporate underwriting, foreign sales and merchandising have enabled the broadcaster to achieve a 15% net increase in internally generated revenues over each of the past five years.