Espero

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Espero (Hope) was a Flarlandian television channel that primarily broadcast in Esperanto, and later in other constructed languages. The channel started broadcasting on October 1, 2004 and shut down in 2008 due to an economical slowdown at the holding.

The channel started off as a non-profit organization led by the Flarlandian Esperantists, but following misunderstandings, switched to a commercial operation the following month. Espero produced most of its programming in-house and even aired Esperanto dubs of Flarlandian television series.

History[edit | edit source]

In March 2002, the Flarlandian Esperantists tested the possibility of a TV program in Esperanto. As the two public service broadcasters believed the idea to be "way too experimental", it started experimental broadcasts under a program - Televidilo Esperanto Flarlandoj - sent to numerous community television stations in Flarland. One such channel, Capital TV, accepted a proposal issued by the association to start a dedicated Esperanto TV channel.

Espero launched on October 1, 2004 at 18:00 and ran for two hours a day. The first hour was in English, including Esperanto lessons while the second hour was entirely in Esperanto. The programming was limited to knowledge and education. However, just one day ahead of the 2004 Flarlandian presidential elections, Espero opened a news division to provide results of the election in Esperanto. This was arranged as a special broadcast. On November 8, Espero switched its frequencies to a dedicated one in Wembley, extending its broadcast hours, now running from 17:00 to 23:30. The programming line-up diversified significantly, adding new formats to the schedule: talk shows, news, entertainment, programming for children, sports, music and so on. This is because the channel was sold in part to local Esperanto entrepeneurs. A "Christmas gift" was added in December, featuring the inclusion of dubbed Flarlandian series. This is because Khyber Waterman of Couch Slave Entertainment stumbled upon the channel "by mistake" and was interested in dubbing its series to a whole new demographic, as far as he considered Esperantists to be "in the hundreds" (back then, an estimated 20.000 Esperantists lived in Flarland).