Fairchild TV (FTV) () is a Canadian Cantonese language exempt specialty channel."Waging a war over a large, wealthy, educated audience; Fairchild TV and CFMT are battling it out to deliver the news to Canada's Chinese community". Toronto Star, February 28, 1999. It is owned by Fairchild Group, with Hong Kong broadcaster TVB holding a 20% minority stake. Fairchild TV has studios in the Greater Toronto Area (Richmond Hill, Ontario) and Greater Vancouver (inside Aberdeen Centre in Richmond, British Columbia).
The channel's origins can be traced to the Cantonese broadcasting service Chinavision Canada, which was rebranded as Fairchild TV in 1993 when Thomas Fung purchased Chinavision.
History
Early history The predecessor of Fairchild Television was Chinavision, a Toronto-based company. In 1983, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that it was considering issuing a national Chinese pay television license. Four organizations competed for the license, including World View Television, which had been granted a regional minority pay television license in British Columbia in 1982, and Chinavision, founded by Francis Cheung. Chinavision won the license in 1984 and began broadcasting in the same year. At that time, it broadcast seven days a week, eight hours a day (17:00 to 01:00 the next morning).
Given that Chinavision was in its infancy at that time, the authorities believed that the Vancouver area could not support two competing Chinese television stations. Therefore, they added a clause to the license of Chinavision restricting it from broadcasting in British Columbia for two years after its launch, so that World Television (later reorganized into Cathay Television in 1985) could maintain its status as the only Chinese television station in British Columbia. The authorities later lifted the broadcasting restrictions on Chinavision in 1987, and the station was able to receive broadcasts in British Columbia from then on. Chinavision at that time was dedicated to rebroadcasting programs from Hong Kong's Asia Television, while Cathay Television was dedicated to rebroadcasting programs from Hong Kong's TVB.
The financial situation of Chinavision has been poor since its launch. By 1992, it was in debt of about 8 million to 10 million Canadian dollars. In the same year, the Ontario court ordered the creditors to take over the company changed the management.
Fairchild takeover In 1992, Fairchild Group owned by Vancouver-based Chinese businessman Thomas Fung, together with TVB, announced a joint investment of $9.25 million to acquire the assets of Chinavision and $3.8 million to acquire Cathay Television. The two transactions were approved by the CRTC in October and December of 1993 respectively, and the two stations were subsequently reorganized: the national television license originally belonging to Chinavision was reorganized into Fairchild Television, while the regional television license originally belonging to Cathay Television was reorganized into Talentvision. After the reorganization, Fairchild Television began to broadcast terrestrial television programs, but also produced some local programs.
In addition, Fairchild TV, after its reorganization, also implemented separate broadcasting in Toronto and Vancouver, with different program schedules in the two cities, and the news departments in the two cities also operated independently. However, this arrangement actually violated the terms of the station's national television license, and CFMT (the predecessor of OMNI), a multicultural television station in Toronto under Rogers Communications Group, filed a complaint with the CRTC in 2000. The authorities then ordered Fairchild TV to stop separate broadcasting and switch to national broadcasting in 2001. After the national broadcasting was implemented on July 2 of the same year, except for the advertising period, the content of the Vancouver signal was the same as that of the Toronto signal, only delayed by three hours due to the time difference between the two cities, and the production and broadcasting of news programs were also changed accordingly. (See Fairchild TV News).
In 2003, the station applied to the CRTC for a license renewal and also requested the authorities to amend the license terms to allow partial broadcasting. The application was approved in 2004, and the news program resumed partial broadcasting in the fall of the same year.
Operations The signal of Fairchild TV’s main channel is currently divided into two versions: Eastern Canada and Western Canada. The differences between the two before 2001 were quite significant, with different program schedules and news reports that were basically unrelated. Since the implementation of nationwide simulcasting in 2001, the two signals have been largely the same, except that the Western Canada version is broadcast 3 hours later than the Eastern Canada version to match the 3-hour time difference between the East and West coasts (so the program schedules of the two are exactly the same when calculated in local time). After the licensing terms were amended in 2004, the first half hour of evening news reports (19:00-19:30) was also broadcast separately in Vancouver and Toronto, and some providers would provide both Eastern and Western Canada versions of Fairchild Television for the convenience of viewers.
Throughout most of 2010s, Fairchild TV signed on at 6:00 a.m. everyday and signed off at 4:00 a.m every Tuesdays-Saturdays, 4:30 am on Sundays, and 3:55 am on Mondays. On October 2, 2022, Fairchild TV switched to a 24-hour schedule.
More than 475,000 Chinese Canadians across Canada watch Fairchild Television each day, roughly 30% of the whole Chinese population in Canada.
Until August 31, 2020, Fairchild TV operated two standard definition television channels: Fairchild TV in Cantonese and Talentvision in Mandarin. Both stations use programming from Vancouver and Toronto. On May 23, 2013, Fairchild TV launched two high-definition (HD) channels: Fairchild TV 2 HD in Cantonese and Talentvision 2 HD in Mandarin (ceased operations in July 2016). On September 1, 2020, Fairchild TV and Talenvision were upgraded to high definition. The Fairchild TV 2 "HD" signage was removed and the channel was renamed Fairchild TV 2.
Programs Fairchild TV broadcasts local (Canadian) and overseas (Asian) programming in the Cantonese language. It also serves as an overseas station of Hong Kong television station TVB. Due to that, Fairchild TV broadcasts TVB programmes, although at a time delay of up to one year due to obtaining overseas broadcasting rights. It has also broadcast programs from other Hong Kong television stations including ATV (previously), ViuTV, and additionally feature popular Mainland Chinese programmes. Fairchild TV also organises annual events, such as the Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant, Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant, Those Days•These Songs Singing Contest, and TVB Fairchild Fans Party. Fairchild TV previously organized New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition, New Talent Singing Awards Toronto Audition, Calgary New Talent Singing Awards, and Project Boyz Power. These programs are broadcast live nationally. Many of the contestants from these contests have gone on to hosting television shows on Fairchild TV and some earn fame in Asia. Most notable are Bernice Liu, Linda Chung, and Leanne Li, former Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant and Miss Chinese International Pageant winners; and Jacky Chu, Elva Hsiao and Jade Kwan of New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition.
Current local programming list
Weekly/daily programs Morning Exercise Timeline Magazine What's On Magazine 26 Chatting Platform Vibe Loop News Talk 時事直擊
Annual events Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant
Current artistes & presenters Name Active at FTV since Associated city Currently hosting Previously hosted NotablesMandy Chan 陳敏愷2001VancouverChinese New Year Countdown TVB Fairchild Fans PartyLeisure Talk Missy Missy
In Search of Tasty CuisinesAlso, DJ at FM 96.1Leo Shiu 蕭嘉俊 2001 TorontoMiss Chinese Toronto Pageant What's On Leisure TalkNew Talent Singing Awards Toronto Audition 2000 Finalist Formerly host of TVB's Entertainment News Channel from 2005 to 2006Brian Chiu 趙穎䝼2016VancouverMiss Chinese Vancouver PageantAlso, DJ at FM 96.1Rachel Wong 黃萃華2016TorontoWhat's On Vibe LoopEntertainment CircleThose Days•These Songs Singing Contest 2 Second-Runner Up Formerly Video Editor & Production Assistant at Fairchild TV NewsCynthia Fu 符善婷2018TorontoWhat's On Vibe LoopEntertainment Circle2017 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant Second-Runner UpVicky Wu 吳曉鈴2021VancouverWhat’s OnIn Search of Tasty Cuisines2020 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant Second-Runner Up Also hosts Talentvision's Urban LifeAlbert Cheung 章志文2022TorontoMiss Chinese Toronto Pageant TVB Fairchild Fans PartyFormer TVB Actor & Host Also, DJ at AM 1430David Ruan 阮駿龍2024TorontoWhat's On Vibe LoopThose Days•These Songs 2 Singing Contest WinnerFion Yung 容羨媛2025VancouverWhat's OnFormer TVB Host of "Scoop"Claudia Lam 林映說2025VancouverWhat's On2024 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant FinalistNatalie So 蘇芷晞2025TorontoWhat's On Vibe Loop2024 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant First-Runner UpJuvally Chan 陳靖如2025TorontoWhat's On Vibe Loop2024 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant WinnerAlvis Kwok 郭文熙2025TorontoVibe LoopThose Days•These Songs 2 Singing Contest Finalist
Notable former presenters The following is a list of former Fairchild Television presenters that are currently affiliated with other media outlets. Lily Hong (), hosted a few programmes for Fairchild TV Toronto in the late 90s to early 2000s. Former TVB contract artiste. Monica Lo (), Miss Chinese Toronto 1996 and Miss Chinese International 1997, hosted for Fairchild TV Toronto. Current Hong Kong film actress and model. Eric Li (), former Fairchild TV Vancouver presenter and news anchor. Later presenter for Cable TV Hong Kong's entertainment news channel and TVB's Entertainment News Channel and Scoop. Janis Chan (), former Fairchild Radio Vancouver DJ and host of What's On Vancouver. Later presenter for Cable TV Hong Kong's entertainment news channel and TVB's Entertainment News Channel. Edcon Gabriel Yau , former Fairchild TV presenter & sports news anchor in Toronto and former DJ host in Fairchild Radio Toronto. Currently a sports presenter for Now TV in Hong Kong and the official NBA Global Games MC in Greater China. Eunice Ho (), New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition 2003 Finalist, former host of What's On Vancouver. Formerly a television presenter for TVB's entertainment news channel. Aimee Chan () & Janet Chow (), Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant 2004 Finalists, former hosts of What's On Toronto. Entered Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2006; Chan won the crown, Chow won first runner-up; former TVB contract artistes. Kayi Cheung (), Miss Chinese (Vancouver) Pageant 2005 Vivacious Beauty award winner, former host of What's On Vancouver. Entered Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2007 and won the crown. Rikko Lee (), former Fairchild Radio Vancouver DJ and host of What's On Vancouver. Signed to TVB as an artist and was a host and reporter for the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2009 Hong Kong East-Asian Games. Former host of TVB's weekly sports programme Sports World and daily financial programme Money Smart on HD Jade. Rachel Zhang (張書玉), Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant 2022 Finalist, former host of Mandarin Profile. Now with OMNI News
See also Fairchild TV News Fairchild TV 2 Talentvision (TTV)
References
External links