TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin to end after 19 seasons

The Agenda with Steve Paikin is coming to an end after 19 seasons.

TVO says this season of its flagship current affairs program will be the last as the veteran host enters a new phase of his career with the public broadcaster.

Paikin will stay with TVO as co-host of the weekly political podcast #onpoli, and he will continue to write a column on the broadcaster's website. TVO also says he'll host public engagements.

Prior to joining TVO in 1992, Paikin spent seven years at CBC Television.

Replacing The Agenda's timeslot will be The Rundown, a new show that TVO says will feature "original journalism and in-depth analysis exploring social, political, cultural and economic issues that impact Ontarians." It launches this fall.

In a column published on Tuesday, Paikin said he and TVO's vice-president of programming, John Ferri, agreed in contract talks three years ago that it would be his last full-time deal with the Ontario broadcaster.

Paikin said hosting is a job that requires working every day of the week, and he realized he wanted to tackle other items on his life's to-do list.

The final episode of The Agenda will air on June 27.

"I am grateful to everyone who worked on or was a part of The Agenda for the last 19 seasons," Paikin said in a statement.

"It has truly been an honour and I'm looking forward to what's coming next."