Aboriginal Peoples Television Network


The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network is a Canadian specialty channel. 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 North American indigenous peoples.

History

Establishment

In 1980, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission 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, 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. It was added to all specialty television services across Canada. APTN was the first national public television network for indigenous peoples.

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, Western Canada, 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 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, semi-satellite CHWT-TV 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, representing nearly half of its over-the-air transmitters. Although this discontinuation was conducted on the same day as Canada's over-the-air digital conversion deadline in certain mandatory markets, these over-the-air transmitters were not subject to this deadline. None of the mandatory conversion-to-digital markets were located the Northwest Territories or 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.
City of licenceChannelCallsignNotes
Chateh13CKCA-TV

City of licenceChannelCallsignNotes
Goose Bay12CHTG-TVHas application to convert to digital as CHTG-DT on VHF 7
Hopedale12CH4153
Makkovik12CH4151
Nain12CH4154
Postville12CH4152
Rigolet12CH4155

City of licenceChannelCallsignNotes
Fort Good Hope12CH4200
Fort McPherson10CH4205
Fort Simpson14CH4202
Fort Smith10CH4206
Hay River12CH4160
Inuvik13CH4221
Norman Wells12CH4220
Ulukhaktok13CH2553
Yellowknife11CHTY

City of licenceChannelCallsignNotes
Arctic Bay11CH4196
Arviat7CH4158
Baker Lake12CH4156
Cambridge Bay13CH2550
Chesterfield Inlet6CH4213
Clyde River6CH4172
Coral Harbour4CH4197
Gjoa Haven13CH2552
Hall Beach12CH4214
Igloolik12CH4201
Iqaluit10CH4161
Kimmirut6CH4198
Kinngait12CH4157
Kugaaruk13CH2554
Nanisivik11CH4178
Pangnirtung12CH4162
Pond Inlet12CH4163
Rankin Inlet12CH4265
Resolute12CH4208
Sanikiluaq12CH4217
Taloyoak13CH2555
Whale Cove10CH4219

City of licenceChannelCallsignNotes
Akulivik12CH4189
Aupaluk11CH4182
Inukjuak11CH4191
Ivujivik11CH4190
Kangiqsualujjuaq12CH4183
Kangiqsujuaq12CH4185
Kangirsuk12CH4184
Kuujjuaq12CH4195
Kuujjuarapik7CH4194
Povungnituk7CH4192
Salluit7CH4193
Tasiujaq12CH4187
Umiujaq6CH4188

City of licenceChannelCallsignNotes
Dawson City9CH4261
Upper Liard11CH4167
Watson Lake5CH4169
Whitehorse11CHWT

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.

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 APTN include:
APTN airs children's programming, primarily as part of the APTN Kids block and branding.
On March 24, 2019, tying in with English-language coverage originating on-location from the Enoch Cree Nation reserve outside of Edmonton, APTN simulcast a Sportsnet-produced NHL game between the Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes with commentary in Plains Cree, as part of the Rogers Hometown Hockey package. On December 13, 2019, APTN and Rogers announced that they would broadcast six Hometown Hockey games per-season in the language over the next three years.

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.

First Peoples Radio

On June 14, 2017, a subsidiary of APTN, First Peoples Radio Inc., 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.
First Peoples Radio Inc had originally announced that its two radio stations, CFPT-FM in Toronto and CFPO-FM in Ottawa, 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, 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.
The stations first went on the air on October 24, 2018 at noon, branded as Elmnt FM.

Expansion into the United States

APTN is working towards launching a similar outlet, tentatively titled All Nations Network, in the United States. 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.

Ownership

APTN has a policy that 51% of ownership should be aboriginal people. And they will avoid stereotypes and cliches when they choose advertisers.