Canadian community-oriented TV network
Rogers TV (stylized as Rogers tv) is a group of English-language community channels owned by Rogers Communications. Many of these channels share common programs. Rogers TV broadcasts in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario. Rogers TV is available only in communities served by Rogers' cable and telecom division, and is not carried by other television service providers. Its French counterpart is TV Rogers.
Rogers TV serves over 2.3 million cable subscribers. Programming on the channels is produced with the assistance of volunteers and community partners and associations who assist with the production and content of these programs.
History.
Historically Rogers TV channels have been run as local public-access television channels; whereas some stations are still run as community access, most stations are run as community stations where production is done in-house with community involvement, or produced by local production studios that provide their shows to be aired by Rogers TV.
The present form of Rogers TV dates to 2000, when Rogers and Shaw Communications agreed to swap cable systems servicing British Columbia and Alberta by Rogers as well as Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia served by Shaw.
In April 2008, the company re-branded itself from Rogers Television to the simpler Rogers TV (TV Rogers for the French-language stations). As with most re-branding initiatives, it included a new logo (seen to the side), a revamped website, on-air graphics elements and new paint schemes for the network's large fleet of production vehicles. Some media critics speculated that the name change was done to bring the cable channels into line with the rest of Rogers Communications' media properties, notably Omni Television and the Citytv network. On September 1, 2016, Rogers TV was relaunched with a new look, consisting a new logo and a new on-air presentation.
In 2017 Rogers TV stations in the Greater Toronto Area closed as part of budget reallocations; this came in response to new CRTC regulations, allowing companies that co-own broadcast stations and cable providers in a metropolitan market to divert the mandatory funding for community channels to support local news operations for their broadcast stations.
Programming.
This programming was created in response to older Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulations which previously required that cable companies produce content reflecting the local community. Rogers TV annually receives applications from the community for new shows, and are reviewed by individual station managers and producers to access which programs can be produced with given production capabilities, likelihood of sponsorship, willingness of community involvement, and uniqueness of programming as major considerations. And because of CRTC requirements, the majority of the programs are produced in the local region of the station, while others are produced in neighbouring studios.
Some programs feature local journalists from radio, print and TV media. The programs are occasionally derivative of mainstream commercial fare with emphasis on the communities the stations are in.
New Brunswick.
In New Brunswick, Rogers TV operates nine distinct community channels. Rogers offers French-language community channels (TV Rogers) in Edmundston, Bathurst, the Acadian Peninsula and Moncton, as well as English-language community channels in Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Miramichi and Bathurst. The programming shown on Rogers TV channels is a mix of access programming produced by the general public, and licensee programming originating from Rogers staff. Topics include political programming, sports coverage, live bingo shows, entertainment series, election coverage, telethons, municipal council coverage, documentaries and specials.
Notable examples of past successes include Acadieman – the world’s first animated Acadian superhero; the Afternoon News with Tom Young – a simulcast of the popular Rogers Radio show; 2 Bon’Heures – the region’s only early-morning French-language studio talk show; and First Local – a live, daily 15 minute news show with stories from around the province.
Cable companies have been offering community channels in New Brunswick for 40 years. Fundy Cable started setting up community channels in Saint John and Edmundston in the early 1970s. Shaw Cable acquired the New Brunswick cable licenses from Fundy Cable in 1998. Rogers TV in New Brunswick was formerly known as TVNB, a group of local community programming stations that became in 1998 the first provincial programming network in Canada not owned by a provincial government. Rogers and Shaw exchanged assets in the year 2000, and the stations were re-branded to Rogers Television shortly thereafter.
Rogers TV stations.
Some programming is also available on the digital "Rogers On Demand" service.
Ontario.
Rogers also owns a stake in Cable 14, a community channel in Hamilton, Ontario co-owned with Cogeco and Source Cable.
References.
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