Seven (Solenial)
Seven is the third channel of the IBS Mediacorp group in Solenial and officially began as The Cable Channel on September 1, 1990. Seven is a so-called youth channel channel targeting the 14-25 demographic.
History[edit | edit source]
The Cable Channel[edit | edit source]
The Cable Channel was set up in February 1990 by a group of local empresarios who were willing to create a fully-local television channel on the new medium, competing against foreign companies like Nethold who had set up in the country. In April, The Cable Channel's license was approved by the government. Broadcasts began on September 1, 1990. The first program seen on the new service was Catweazle. Initially it ran a meager four hours a day on weekdays and five on weekends, starting at 8pm. Since it was a cable channel, it was famous for its loopholes, particularly the late night erotic shows, especially on weekends. The channel's slogan was "Good entertainment is on The Cable Channel". It was made available on every cable provider and had its signal beamed by satellite, even though satellite reception of the channel was considered illegal by law. Cable television had reached 27% of Solenial's population at the time.
Within two months, The Cable Channel's broadcast hours and profitability grew. By 1992, The Cable Channel got a terrestrial license, rendering its name almost obsolete, however its terrestrial signal was limited to parts of Jeyvol and Coshastati. IBS bought the channel in 1994. As part of the plans was a nationwide expansion of its terrestrial transmitter network and a new name and format.
Yorin[edit | edit source]
IBS had to change the name of the station. At first IBS came up with ME but a fashion label in Solenial called WE complained about the similarity with its name. Eventually IBS rebranded the channel as Yorin on 2 April 2000. Yorin was a misspelling of "You're in". The old Solenian version of The Price is Right, Cash and Carlo, referenced this fact when announcer Eddy Cour told contestants "Yorin the game!" when they came on down to Contestant's Row. All programmes previously on the channel and also the television presenters moved to Yorin. IBS didn't want to add IBS into the name so the channel would keep its own identity.
Yorin was a "heavily versatile" brand for the IBS group. The brand also implied the creation of a radio station and an accompanying website for both. In the auctioning off of FM radio frequencies called ZeroBase, IBS acquired a lot of them, allowing such to broadcast a popular music station (Yorin FM) virtually nationwide. The format didn't work.
In 2005, IBS reorganized its television channels. The Yorin brand was discontinued and the radio station sold off. On its shutdown, Yorin played a special farewell video from the staff, who left IBS.
Seven[edit | edit source]
The new brand, Seven, took over Yorin's frequencies on August 1, 2005. Like with its predecessor, calling it just Seven and not IBS Seven would mean that the channel would have stronger chances of surviving in a highly competitive market.
Seven, unlike Yorin, was slightly different: this time it became a men's channel as opposed to the combined youth/men format of the days of Yorin. There was also a substantial increase in sports broadcasts.
