The Ohio Channel is a service of Ohio's public broadcasting stations that operates out of the

Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the List of state and territorial capitols in the United States, state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. The Ohio Channel, on behalf of its parent company Ohio Government Telecommunications, produces gavel-to-gavel, unedited video coverage of official sessions of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...

, the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

, and the

Supreme Court of Ohio The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, ...

. In addition to these official sessions, The Ohio Channel covers various Office of the

Governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

events, news conferences and bill signings, other state agency proceedings and events, and public affairs and educational programming. The mission of the Ohio Channel is to provide the citizens of Ohio with unbiased, unedited, and non-partisan access to public proceedings of the state government and to inform the public about current topics that affect their communities.

Services

The Ohio Channel streams video of official sessions live over the internet and broadcasts those sessions live on over-the-air

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

affiliates across the state of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Videos are immediately archived on the web for future viewing.

and

sessions from 1996 to the present are available for viewing online, and coverage and archives of the

oral arguments from 2004 to the present are also available. Unofficial events are covered by The Ohio Channel on a by-request basis from state organizations and agencies holding the event. Hundreds of Governor's bill signings and news conferences of the

Ohio General Assembly The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Colu ...

Lieutenant Governor of Ohio The position of lieutenant governor of Ohio was established in 1852. The lieutenant governor becomes Governor of Ohio, governor if the governor resigns, dies in office or is removed via impeachment conviction. Before 1852, the president of the Oh ...

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio attorney general is the chief legal officer of the state of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio attorney general is Republican Dave Yost. History The office of the att ...

Ohio State Treasurer The treasurer of the U.S. state of Ohio is responsible for collecting and safeguarding taxes and fees, as well as managing state investments. The Treasury was located in the Ohio Statehouse from 1861 to 1974, when it was moved to the Rhodes Stat ...

and many administrative agencies are available online. In addition to providing video coverage of state government, The Ohio Channel also distributes public affairs and educational programming. By partnering with

stations around the state, The Ohio Channel broadcasts videos of regional radio talk programs including

WOSU-FM WOSU-FM (89.7 FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Columbus, Ohio, featuring a public radio news and information format known as "89.7fm NPR News". Owned by Ohio State University, the station serves the Columbus met ...

's ''All Sides with Ann Fisher'' and

WKSU WKSU (89.7 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Kent, Ohio, featuring a public radio format. Owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream, Ideastream Public Media, WKSU's primary s ...

's ''The Sound of Ideas'', plus rebroadcasts of

WOSU-TV WOSU-TV (channel 34) is a PBS member television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Owned by Ohio State University as part of WOSU Public Media, it is sister to public radio stations WOSU-FM (89.7) and WOSA (101.1 FM). The three station ...

's ''Columbus On The Record'' and

WVIZ WVIZ (channel 25) is a PBS member television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Ideastream Public Media alongside classical music station WCLV () and co-managed with Kent State University–owned WKSU (), the NPR member ...

's ''Ideas''. The Ohio Channel also broadcasts its own programming featuring Ohio history, culture and public affairs. The Ohio Channel updates weekly its broadcast schedule, and the channel locator allows viewers to find the Ohio Channel based on region of the state and distributor.

Early history

The Ohio Channel was created in 1996 upon the completion of the restoration of the

. Beginning in 1993 after the restoration of the Senate Building and Atrium, restoration of the

included wiring the buildings for video and broadcast coverage.

Current history and growth

The Ohio Channel began tracking video views on its website in 2011 and reached over 6 million total web views in one year. The Ohio Channel began covering all committee hearings for the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate in 2020.

External links

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"Ohio Channel Tracks Video Views"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohio Channel Commercial-free television networks Television networks in the United States Legislature broadcasters in the United States Ohio General Assembly