Ontario Parliament Network

Ontario Parliament Network
CJOL-TV
provincewide Ontario, primarily on cable
Channels Analog: see List of transmitters
Owner Government of Ontario
(Ontario Educational Communications Authority)
First air date 1986
Call letters' meaning C J Ontario Legislature
Sister station(s) TVOntario
TFO

The Ontario Parliament Network (stylized ONT.PARL since 2018)[1] is a television channel in the Canadian province of Ontario, established in 1986 to broadcast the parliamentary proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It is available on all cable television providers in Ontario, as well as by webcast.

When the legislature is not sitting, the network broadcasts committee hearings which take place in the Amethyst Room. Each Sunday, a compilation series called Sunday Encore rebroadcasts the highlights from the previous week. Closed captioning is also provided. The Ontario Parliament Network's coverage of Question Period is also aired from 3:00-4:00am the following morning on TVOntario stations.

When meetings are adjourned and there are no sittings, the channel plays music in full-length albums and shows pictures in and around the building with scheduled sittings and events. This music includes jazz musicians like Oscar Peterson, Moe Koffman, Ed Bickert, Lorne Lofsky and Jim Galloway, and there are also classical, Latin, flamenco and British-style brass band albums. The classical performers include guitarists Liona Boyd and Norbert Kraft, cellist Ofra Harnoy, and trumpeter Johnny Cowell. Orchestras are the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Chamber Orchestra, and CBC Vancouver Orchestra and the brass band is the Hannaford Street Silver Band. Around Christmas time, the selection changes to Christmas-themed albums by the same people and shows pictures inside the building all decorated with Christmas garments and tree.

List of transmitters

In a number of small communities in Northern Ontario without cable service, TVOntario also operates LPTV transmitters which broadcast the network as a conventional over-the-air signal. These transmitters broadcast with the call sign CJOL-TV.

As well as the service's regular programming, the transmitters also formerly leased broadcasting time to the Wawatay Native Communications Society, a producer of First Nations television programming.[2] In 1989, the service hosted the first-ever television broadcast of a First Nations pow-wow.[3]

In April 2012, TVOntario announced that it would be decommissioning all of its remaining analog transmitters and associated towers by October 2013 including towers that it owns, which would impact the Ontario Parliament Network, as it shares towers with TVOntario. As of December 2012, the Ontario Parliament Network only has 10 remaining over-the-air transmitters, according to Industry Canada's TV spectrum database.[4] Previously, there had been 32 transmitters with the call sign of CJOL-TV. As of 2015, it is uncertain if any of these remaining analog transmitters are still in operation.

References

  1. ↑ Legislative Assembly of Ontario. "Watch the Legislature in action". OLA.org. Retrieved September 19, 2018. To find the ONT.PARL channel and schedule, please consult your local cable listings.
  2. ↑ "Northern graduates band together Taught by radio in remote areas, natives to get diplomas". The Globe and Mail, June 20, 1992.
  3. ↑ "Following their heart home: The creative journey for Indian artists has many beginnings but a common path". Toronto Star, 11 May 1996.
  4. ↑ Broadcasting Database
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