Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network, is a Canadianpublicly fundededucationalcable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crown corporation of the Government of British Columbia, and began broadcasting on January 12, 1981. Rudy Buttignol is president and CEO of British Columbia's Knowledge Network. Knowledge Network’s broadcast licence is for satellite-to-cable programming. The network is available on the Bell TVsatellite service, on channel 268, on Shaw Direct channel 354, and on TELUS Optik TV channel 117. It has also been broadcast over-the-air in remote locations throughout British Columbia, with these repeater sites being operated by local volunteers in the few areas of the province where cable television is not available. The network used the callsignCKNO, although the transmitters were assigned numeric callsigns with the prefix "CH" due to being low-powered. Knowledge receives funding both from the British Columbia government and from public donations. The station supports lifelong learning for children and adults by providing quality, commercial-free programming through its broadcast channel, websites and apps. Knowledge Network also invests in documentaries and children’s programs produced by independent filmmakers and helps to develop skills within the independent production community.
Overview
Knowledge Network is British Columbia's public educational broadcaster and is required to be distributed as part of the basic cable service in British Columbia. When Knowledge first signed on in 1981, its broadcast schedule originally ran from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. In later years, it broadcast from 7:00 a.m.-12 a.m. until July 2007, when programming hours were expanded to 6:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m. In late 2007, Knowledge Network began changing its logo from the green tree to its new wordmark logo, and as of June 2008 the green tree logo has been removed. The channel is currently a 24-hour broadcaster. The network obtains an average of 1.5 million viewers, or over one-third of British Columbians per week. Currently, within the province, the station holds the number one position on weekday mornings for kids age two to six. Also, it has experienced an increase in viewers age 29 to 49 for its prime time programs. In its programming, Knowledge Network covers a range of topics including politics, history and culture, arts and music, health, parenting, and science. It has a children's block, Knowledge Kids, that features characters Luna, Chip and Inkie. With funding from the provincial government and over 40,000 individual donors, Knowledge Network acquires and commissions over 750 hours of original programming per year. In 2011, Knowledge Network acquired Shaw Media's stake in the children's television service BBC Kids, and converted it into a commercial-free service. Knowledge Network launched an HD feed on September 25, 2013. It became available to customers of Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct on October 8, 2013.
