VisionTV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| VisionTV | |
|---|---|
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| Launched | 1988 |
| Owned by | S-VOX |
| Country | Canada |
| Broadcast area | National |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Website | visiontv.ca |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Bell ExpressVu | Channel 261 |
| Star Choice | Channel 394 |
| Cable | |
| Available on most Canadian cable systems | Check local listings, channels may vary |
VisionTV is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel that airs multi-faith and multicultural programming.
VisionTV is owned by S-VOX; a not-for-profit charitable organization. VisionTV's funding comes from cable subscription fees, viewer donations, advertising revenues and the sale of airtime to faith groups.
Contents |
[edit] Programming
VisionTV's programming consists of two programming streams; Mosaic and Cornerstone.
[edit] Mosaic
Its Mosaic block consists of faith related programming representing 75 faith groups within various religious denominations, including Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. While the station sells time to several television evangelists, most of its Christian programming tends to originate from more mainstream denominations such as the United Church of Canada and the Catholic Church.
[edit] Cornerstone
VisionTV's Cornerstone programs include music, feature films, dramas, comedies, documentaries and programming on social issues that explore spirituality, morality and cultural diversity.
The network also sponsors an annual Canadian drama competition, which solicits television series proposals revolving around faith and cultural diversity and then funds a pilot episode for the winning proposal. Two noted Canadian series, Lord Have Mercy and Da Kink in My Hair, have been developed from pilots commissioned by VisionTV.
[edit] Noted series
[edit] Mosaic series
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[edit] Cornerstone series |
- Note: This is only a partial list of programs listed as of June 2008.
[edit] History and viewership
Licensed in December 1987 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the channel was launched in 1988 and was initially one of Canada's more popular cable channels. However, with the proliferation of new cable channels, and with VisionTV lacking clout with cable carriers due to it being owned by a one channel operation owned by a not-for-profit organization rather than a large commercial entity operating many channels, the service has been moved up the dial by carriers and become less available to audiences causing a drop in its viewership.
Network vice-president Rita Deverell, who hosted interstitial segments between programs, was the network's best-known on-air personality from its launch until she left in 2002 to work for APTN.
As well, evangelical Christian denominations view the station as liberal in orientation and thus prefer more evangelically oriented operations such as CTS in Ontario and CHNU in Vancouver. Many Catholics have recently taken issue with this station as well, claiming that the station demonstrates anti-Catholic bias. For example, the show 360° Vision seems to, on one hand, focus on subjects which are unflattering to mainstream Catholics, while on the other hand, produce stories which contradict widely-held beliefs, for example, that Islamic terrorism poses a threat to Canada.
[edit] External links
- VisionTV website
- S-VOX
- Broadcaster with Vision profile from For A Change magazine
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