Numbers also tell a story regarding our performance and impact. Cogeco's community television channel, TVCogeco, serves both Ontario and Quebec. We operate 36 local television channels, serving communities from Windsor to Cornwall, from North Bay to Niagara, from Trois-Rivières to Gaspé, and from Baie-Comeau to Sherbrooke.
We partner with close to 700 core community volunteers in the creation of our local programming. These enthusiastic and civic-minded individuals range in age from 15 to 73 and provide their time and talents as community producers, crew members, editors, and on-air hosts. Many develop their skills through our training programs, and they contributed an amazing 60,000 volunteer hours in the creation of local content in the past year.
Last fiscal year we created 12,130 hours of original 100% local Canadian content, including public affairs, sports, arts and culture, community events, and local news and information, and in Ontario alone, 43,721 no-cost public announcements were posted by local groups and organizations on our channel and website to inform their communities about local events and activities.
Viewers like what they see. Our annual surveys indicate that 490,814 viewers are tuning in to TVCogeco. That's an average of 44% of the total households served. Our 2008 Environics customer satisfaction study reveals that an overall average of 90% of respondents believe we provide a valuable service to the community, and 88% perceive the channel as providing an overall quality product. In comparison, a recent Polaris study on the CBC shows that 40% of their respondents watch CBC on a weekly basis.
Our viewers are most likely to watch our local community news, event coverage, and politics and current affairs programming, including municipal councils, and the demand for hometown hockey appears almost universal.
Our newsmagazine shows are very popular. For example, the number one show in Quebec is Autrement Vu featuring local activities, resources, personalities, and issues twice a week. In Ontario we have a similar format called The Source. As an example, one of the recent segments in our Burlington-Oakville area alerted viewers about a door-to-door energy scam operating in their neighbourhood and subsequently informed them on how to get off the grid. Our larger systems update their Source magazines daily.
We're always open to innovation, since changes are constant and we know we need to reinvent ourselves, so when challenges appear, we develop a new model. In our last presentation, we illustrated our flexibility through the transition of our North Bay system to hard news coverage, presented each weekday in addition to traditional community content. We launched the daily half-hour news program when the local broadcast affiliate made the decision to cut back on their local news coverage. Our 2008 viewer survey indicates that 92% rated the channel as providing a valuable service. We will also upload North Bay news highlights onto our website in the coming year.
Local news coverage, however, costs well above our regulated allocations. As noted before, we could do more if we had access to our own local resources for that purpose.
The value of our community involvement is also reflected through our commitment to fundraising efforts. Many key charitable organizations and agencies rely on our promotional partnerships in order to continue their valuable and essential support roles. TVCogeco has helped our service groups, agencies, and institutions to raise close to $4 million in the past year through telethons, TV auctions, and other joint fundraising activities and promotions.