The educational channel created by the city of Lyon in 1991 initially dedicated to elementary school children and their educators (parents, teachers, etc.), is becoming a channel for education and training throughout life. It is a channel for knowledge, a channel for citizenship, open to all, and directly linked to the social workers and those most likely to feed the reflection and the actions of all involved in examining the goals and actions of those for whom education is a fundamental investment in our society

In a media age that is more and more governed by advertisement, by the wild race for audience, by the fast and often superficial treatment of the major questions of our time, CAP CANAL represents a real audiovisual alternative.

As a public channel and in connection with the big cultural and educational institutions, CAP CANAL offers original programming about decisive subjects for our future. Working tightly with the "Education Nationale" and with associations working in the educational and social field, this channel tries hard to deal with the real concerns of the people and provide answers without demagoguery or elitism.

Used to working with both local and national creators and researchers, CAP CANAL has always given great importance to aesthetic quality and intellectual requirements.

A channel of immediacy, CAP CANAL means to embody daily Miguel Torga's beautiful formula: "The universal is proximity minus the walls."

The audience finds here the means to learn without being bored, to be entertained without becoming jaded. In addition to the programs aimed at the young public, the channel offers programs for parents, teachers, educators, social workers, etc.

Shows dedicated to primary school are complemented by shows dedicated to middle and high school. A regular broadcast is produced in partnership with colleges and universities, and another broadcast in partnership with the AFPA (The Association for Adult Professional Training.).

Furthermore, CAP CANAL sets up events around these shows, which in addition to being broadcast on cable are available on the internet and on DVD. It also joins with all the educational, social, and cultural institutions that favour consideration of the challenges that today's society needs to face.

In brief, CAP CANAL wants to show that there is an alternative way of “making television” and a real possibility of “using television as a social tool”.

Philippe Meirieu
University's professor