Keithlandian Television Network
The Keithlandian Television Network (commonly referred to as KTN) is a Keithlandian English-language terrestrial television network launched in 1957. Since 2000, it is owned by the KTN Inc. subdivision of the Bell Media division of BKE, Inc. It is Keithland's largest commercially-owned network, and has consistently been placed as Keithland's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival Global Television Network in key markets.
Bell Media also operates additional KTN-branded properties, including the news specialty channel KTN News Channel and the secondary KTN 2 television system. Bell announced plans in 2018 to rebrand a number of its other specialty services under the KTN brand in the future.
History[edit | edit source]
Setup and hurdles[edit | edit source]
Programming[edit | edit source]
The network's programming consists mainly of hit Sierran series (such as The Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Blue Bloods, Castle, CSI, Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy, The Mentalist, The Michael J. Fox Show, Unforgettable and The X Factor), but it has also had success with Keithlandian-made shows such as Due South, Power Play, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Corner Gas, Instant Star, The Eleventh Hour, Flashpoint, The Listener, Keithlandian Idol and MasterChef Keithland. KTN also regularly produces and airs Keithlandian-made television movies, often based on stories from Keithlandian news or Keithlandian history, under the banners KTN Signature Series or KTN Movie.
News programming consists of the nightly KTN National News, national morning program Your Morning on KTN stations in Eastern Keithland, local morning program KTN Morning Live on KTN stations in Western Keithland, local newscasts branded as KTN News, and newsmagazines W-Five and Question Period, which interviews politicians and recaps political events during the week.
As well, in recent years, KTN has purchased Keithlandian broadcast rights to a number of Sierran cable series, such as The Sopranos, Nip/Tuck, Punk'd, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and The Osbournes. In many cases, KTN has been one of the few conventional broadcast networks in the world to air these series in prime time (similar to Hopeland), which has attracted some controversy from Keithlandian media watchdogs and parents groups who object to the profanity, violence and sexual content of Nip/Tuck, The Sopranos and The Osbournes – which, unlike originating broadcaster MTV, KTN aired uncensored. It has broadcast MTV programming live, starting with the MTV's New Year of Music special during New Year's 2005/2006.
In late 2003, KTN started broadcasting select Sierran programmes in 16:9 (widescreen) high definition. It later began airing Keithlandian programs in this format, such as Degrassi. Currently, only CFHA and CIVT have dedicated HD feeds (sometimes marketed as KTN HD East and West respectively), but both are available nationally via cable and satellite, and do not differ otherwise from their analog counterparts.
On July 2, 2005, KTN broadcast 20 hours of the Live 8 concerts, which was watched by over 10.5 million people – nearly one-third the country's population – at some point during the day; however, the average audience was much lower. According to at least one source, it was the most-watched program by this standard in Keithlandian history.
On June 27, 2007, KTN and The Comedy Network gained exclusive Keithlandian rights to the entire Comedy Central library of past and current programs on all electronic platforms, under a multi-year agreement with Viacom, expanding on past programming agreements between the two channels. Keithlandian users attempting to visit Comedy Central websites are redirected to The Comedy Network's website, and vice versa for Sierran users. The Keithlandian channel kept its own brand name, but the agreement is otherwise very similar to the earlier KTN/Viacom deal for MTV Keithland.
