Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Establishment

In 1980 the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued the Therrien Committee Report. In that report, the committee concluded that northern Aboriginal peoples had increasing interest in developing their own media services and that the government has a responsibility to ensure support in broadcasting of Aboriginal 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. 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 five different feeds: two terrestrial feeds, separate national cable feeds for Eastern (Manitoba and east) and Western Canada (Saskatchewan and west), 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 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.

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. But, 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 has 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 the network include:

Adult programs

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.

APTN HD

In March 2008, APTN launched a high definition simulcast of APTN's cable feed called APTN HD. Unlike the standard definition feed that has eastern, western and northern feeds, APTN HD is a national feed operating from the Eastern Time Zone. It is available on both satellite providers, Bell TV and Shaw Direct.

It is currently available on Bell TV, Bell Fibe TV, Cogeco, EastLink, MTS TV, Optik TV, Rogers Cable, SaskTel, Shaw Cable, Vmedia and Vidéotron.

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.