1. History
     Establishment    National expansion and re-launch  

2. Budget

3. Distribution

4. Programming
     Adult programs    APTN Kids  

5. High definition

6. First Peoples Radio

7. Expansion into the United States

8. See also

9. References

10. External links

The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN, stylized aptn) is a Canadian broadcast and Category A cable television network. Established in 1992 with government support to broadcast in Canada's northern territories, since 1999 APTN has had a national broadcast licence. It airs and produces programs made by, for and about Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it is the first network by and for Indigenous peoples.^[1]

History

Establishment

In 1980 the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued the Therrien Committee Report. In that report, the committee concluded that northern Indigenous peoples had increasing interest in developing their own media services and that the government has a responsibility to ensure support in broadcasting of Indigenous cultures and languages. The committee recommended measures to enable northern native people to use broadcasting to support their languages and cultures.

The Canadian government created the Northern Broadcasting Policy, issued on March 10, 1983. It laid out principles to develop Northern native-produced programming. The policy included support for what was called the Northern Native Broadcast Access Program, a funded program to produce radio and/or television programs in First Peoples' languages to reflect their cultural perspectives.

Soon after the program's creation, problems were recognized in the planned program distribution via satellite. In January 1987, Canadian aboriginal and Northern broadcasters met in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to form a non-profit consortium to establish a Pan-Northern television distribution service. In 1988, the Canadian government gave the organizers $10 million to establish the network. The application for the new service, initially known as Television Northern Canada (TVNC), was approved by the CRTC in 1991. The network officially launched on over-the-air signals to the Canadian territories and far northern areas of the provinces on January 21, 1992.

National expansion and re-launch

After several years broadcasting in the territories, TVNC began lobbying the CRTC to amend their licence to allow TVNC to be broadcast nationally; they promoted the "uniqueness" and "significance" of a national Aboriginal service. On February 22, 1999, the CRTC granted TVNC a licence for a national broadcast network.

On September 1, 1999, the network also re-branded as the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). It was added to all specialty television services across Canada.^[1] APTN was the first national public television network for indigenous peoples.^[2]

Budget

In 2009, APTN had an annual budget of C$42 million.

Distribution

APTN's service consists of six different feeds: two terrestrial feeds, separate national cable feeds for Eastern (Ontario and east), Western Canada (Manitoba and west), Northern Canada as well as a national HD feed.

The terrestrial feed, the successor to the original TVNC, is available over-the-air in Canada's far northern areas. It consists of flagship station CHTY-TV^[3] in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, semi-satellite CHWT-TV^[4] in Whitehorse, Yukon, and numerous low-powered rebroadcasters across the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut, Alberta, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

On August 31, 2011, APTN shut down 39 low-power television repeaters across the Northwest Territories and Yukon,^[5] representing nearly half of its over-the-air transmitters. Although this was conducted on the same day as Canada's over-the-air digital conversion deadline in certain mandatory markets, these transmitters were not subject to this deadline. None of the mandatory markets was located the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

In November 2016, CEO Jean La Rose told the Winnipeg Free Press that APTN was negotiating carriage for a U.S. service. He noted that there was a high level of interest among Native Americans for programming relevant to their communities.^[6]

The Eastern Canada cable feed operated as the national feed until the Western Canada feed began service on October 2, 2006.

APTN is licensed as a national network by the CRTC, thus putting it on par with CBC Television, Radio-Canada and TVA. Since APTN's relaunch as a national network in 1999, all Canadian cable and satellite television providers have been required to include it in their basic service. However, many cable companies outside the Arctic place it above channel 60 on their systems, rendering it inaccessible to older cable-ready television sets that do not go above channel 60. The CRTC considered requiring cable companies to move APTN to a lower dial position, but decided in 2005 that it would not do so.^[9]

Programming

APTN offers a variety of programming related to Aboriginal peoples, including documentaries, news magazines, dramas, entertainment specials, children's series, movies, sports events, educational programs and more. APTN's network programming is c. 56% English, 16% French, and 28% Aboriginal languages.

Programs which have aired on the network include:

Adult programs

• APTN National News
• APTN Contact
• Arbor Live!
• Bingo and a Movie
• Blackstone
• Bro'Town
• Bordertown
• The Candy Show
• Cashing In
• May Contain Nuts
• Cooking With the Wolfman
• Delmer & Marta
• First Contact
• First Talk With Tamara Bull
• Finding Our Talk: A Journey Through Aboriginal Languages,^[10] the world's first series in Mohawk language, three seasons (2001, 2002, 2009)
• Friday Night Flick
• Fugget About It
• Guides and Gurus
• Hard Rock Medical
• La piqure
• Medicine Woman
• Mixed Blessings
• Moccasin Flats
• Mohawk Girls
• My TV
• Native New Yorker
• North of 60
• Northern Exposure
• One With Nature
• Queen of the Oil Patch
• Rabbit Fall
• Rez Bluez
• The Sharing Circle
• Storytellers in Motion
• TKO
• Wentworth
• G4TV Icons

APTN Kids

This is programming which APTN has indicated is targeted towards children. Some of them currently air on weekends under the "kids" label which has its own logo.^[11]

• Adventures of Little Jake & Many Skies aka Little Jake Many Skies aka The Adventures of Little Jake + Many Skies^[12]
• Amy's Mythic Mornings^[11]
• Anaana's Tent^[13]
• Anash and the Legacy of the Sun-Rock
• The Gods' Lake^[14][15]
• Artie the Ant^[16] aka The Adventures of Artie the Ant^[17]
• Bizou^[11][18]
• By The Rapids^[19]
• CG Kids^[23]
• Chic Choc^[20]
• The Deerskins^[21]
• Doggy Day School^[11]
• Fire Quest^[27]
• Garderie Waf Waf^[15]
• Guardians Evolution^[11]
• Inuk^[11]
• Kagagi: The Raven^[11]
• La Crosse Goals^[22]
• The Link (TV series)^[22]
• Little Bear^[15]
• Louis Says^[11]
• Monster Math Squad^[23]
• Mouki^[11][24]
• Nehiyawetan^[15][20]
• The New Adventures of Lucky Luke^[22]
• Planet Echo^[25]
• Qanurli^[26]
• The Raccoons
• Raven Tales^[27]
• renegadepress.com^[27]
• Road Scholars^[28]
• Stories of Our Elders^[29]
• Takuginai^[11][20]
• The Loud House
• Tamanevugut^[11]
• Tiga Talk^[11][30]
• Tipi Tales^[53]
• Pahkitew Island^[11]
• Wapos Bay^[11]
• Wataway Kids^[28]
• Wumpa's World
• Wakanheja
• Yvon of the Yukon^[31]

High definition

In March 2008, APTN launched a high definition channel known as APTN HD; initially, the HD feed was a straight simulcast of APTN's Eastern cable feed, complying with the requirement that a specialty channel's HD simulcast must be 95% identical in programming and scheduling to its standard-definition feeds. In May 2017, the CRTC amended APTN's license so that APTN HD's programming would no longer necessarily have to mirror the scheduling of the SD feeds, as long as 95% of its programming had aired at some point on one of APTN's SD feeds. The network argued that this change would allow it more flexibility in scheduling programming on APTN HD to reach a broader audience.^[32]

First Peoples Radio

On June 14, 2017, a subsidiary of APTN, First Peoples Radio Inc. (FPR), was granted licences by the CRTC to operate radio stations in Toronto and Ottawa aimed at urban Indigenous populations in those cities. The Ottawa station will broadcast on 95.7 FM and the Toronto station will use 106.5 FM. Both frequencies had previously been allocated to Aboriginal Voices Radio which had its licenses revoked in 2015. FPR had also applied for licenses in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver but the CRTC granted these to other applicants.^[33]

First Peoples Radio Inc had originally announced that its two radio stations, CFPT-FM in Toronto^[34] and CFPO-FM in Ottawa,^[35] were to go on the air by June 2018 but later delayed its soft launch until October 24, 2018. FPR will produce and share programming with the Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation in Saskatchewan and Native Communications Incorporated in Manitoba and is also in talks with the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society, which has been granted radio licenses in Edmonton and Calgary, and Northern Native Broadcasting (Terrace), which operates an Indigenous radio station in Terrace, British Columbia and has been granted a license to operate a radio station in Vancouver, about potential programming partnerships.^[36]

The stations first went on the air on October 24, 2018 at noon, branded as Elmnt FM.^[37]

Expansion into the United States

APTN is working towards launching a similar outlet, tentatively titled All Nations Network, in the United States.^[38] The network has already aired works produced in the United States, such as the full-length documentary film Skydancer, directed by Katja Esson, about the community of Akwesasne and its ironworkers. It was aired on both APTN and PBS in the United States in October 2012, after winning awards at film festivals.

See also

• World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network
• Aboriginal Canadian personalities

References

External links

• {{official}}
• {{Official website|http://www.aptn.ca/}}
• Museum of Broadcast Communications -- TVNC History

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