Ensign Television

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Ensign Television or simply ETV, is a television network in Bensonia. In the past decade it has become the fourth network in terms of ratings. Attempts to try and bring ETV back to its relevance are considered "failures" by media critics.

History[edit | edit source]

In 1966, George Jennings bought the channel 13 license for Grand Rapids, assign the PRES callsigns from its radio station, and started construction on the future television station. Experimental broadcasts started in February 1967. On May 13, 1967, Ensign TV went live on air. The choice of date was symbolic, as the channel's name, itself borrowed from the the radio station, represented former Michillian ensign (of which the Bensonian flag is derived). The channel opened with an innaugurative speech followed by a special reconstitution of the 150th anniversary of the Condominium Treaty set up by North Arlesbury and the Michillies to turn the then-Northulic Territories into a joint colony (before becoming independent five years later). On launching day, the channel gave five homes to homeless parents. Initially Ensign Television insisted that its schedule should be "varied" in order "not to ruin the preference of different crowds". This was highly comparable to how the now-defunct Headline Network would do during its first few years of operation, to compete against the higher-class SBC and the lower-class NTS.

In 1972, ETV made its first color broadcast, using supplies given from two large-scale television networks, the Hopelandian UBS and the Sierran NBC, at the time considered the most technologically-advanced networks in Sierra as a continent. By 1977, ETV became a national network, with the establishment of a station in Galveston (on channel 7). The network eventually started satellite broadcasts in 1982 (with help from Hopelandian technicians) and invested heavily in national and international sports broadcasts. These broadcasts gave the network a popular nickname, "the sports network".

Programming[edit | edit source]