JNNNN TV Anda
JNNNN TV Anda is an Acarian television chanel owned by Anda Media. It was founded in 1997. The slogan is "the best of the best" and has ANTV, Burton TV Acaria, Acaria Independent Television and TVB as its competitors.
History[edit | edit source]
JNNNN TV Anda was founded in 1997. The channel's name is over-exaggerated. JNNNN means "James' NoN-Stop News Network, the name is actually counter-intuitive (see below). The Anda part of its name refers to Radio Anda, founded in 1994.
At the very beginning of its existence, there were only two TV channels in Acaria: ANTV (at the time ANBC Television) and TNA Bulungi (until 1998, TNA International was relayed over the terrestrial frequencies). Anda Media took the advantage of starting a channel by means of a loophole in March 1997. The channel was founded by James Gelulu and initially relayed NBS World and CNN International, but between 7 and 9pm, the channel broadcast a two-hour local programming slot that consisted largely of local news programs.
Up until then, ANBC had the monopoly over the television news landscape, but the appearance of JNNNN TV Anda with a more "unconventional" news style (at times when ANTV was on air) was seen as a threat to press standards in the country, and that the relays of foreign news channels was illegal. The death of Princess Diana on August 31, 1997 gave ANBC the lower hand, as the vast majority of the viewers were watching the NBS World relays that day instead.
Faced with pressure from ANBC and TNA, James Gelulu had to withdraw the all-news programming effective March 31, 1998 and the channel was limited to four hours a day (7pm to 11pm, less than the ANBC average 6pm to 11:30pm). The local programming was limtied to the news, after that, at 7:15pm, the channel shifted to an entertainment format, with programming "supplied" (illegally from a DSTV dish and subsequently pre-recorded for airing at a later date, as DSTV had no legal representative in Acaria until October 2000) by M-Net and Movie Magic. An attempt to cover the World Cup from Étienne was blocked by ANBC weeks before the tournament started.
Over time, the new programming gained more viewers. Gelulu recalls in his 2013 memoirs How I Defied Acaria "JNNNN TV Anda in its old format was operating at a loss, but switching to entertainment allowed me to bring new opportunities for Acarians to enjoy entertainment". The channel still had limited coverage.
Programming[edit | edit source]
- Hotel St. James