The Ontario Parliament Network (stylized ONT.PARL since 2018) is a

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, established in 1986 to broadcast the parliamentary proceedings of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Member of Provincial ...

. It is available on all

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

providers in Ontario, as well as by webcast. When the legislature is not sitting, the network broadcasts

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

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 Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio po ...

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 TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

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 Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

, Moe Koffman, Ed Bickert, Lorne Lofsky and

Jim Galloway James Braidie Galloway (28 July 1936 – 30 December 2014) was a jazz clarinet and saxophone player. He based his career in Canada after emigrating from Scotland in the mid-1960s. Early life and education Galloway was born in Kilwinning, Ayr ...

, 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. New albums include jazz music performed by the University of Toronto 12tet and classical music performed by Gryphon Trio and guitarist Jeffrey McFadden. The songs and names of albums are displayed when they start playing.

List of transmitters

In a number of small communities in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...

without cable service,

also formerly operated LPTV transmitters which broadcast the network as a conventional over-the-air signal. These transmitters operated with the call sign CJOL-TV. As well as the service's regular programming, the transmitters also leased broadcasting time to the Wawatay Native Communications Society, a producer of First Nations television programming. In 1989, the service aired the first-ever television broadcast of a First Nations

pow-wow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or pu ...

."Following their heart home: The creative journey for Indian artists has many beginnings but a common path". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

'', 11 May 1996. 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.Broadcasting Database
/ref> 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

External links

Legislative Assembly of Ontario
* * {{Legislative television channels in Canada Television channels and stations established in 1986 Commercial-free television networks Legislature broadcasters in Canada Music video networks in Canada Ontario government departments and agencies Television stations in Ontario TVOntario Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1986 establishments in Ontario