TV3 (North Arlesbury)

TV3 is a North Arlesburian television network and media company, owned by the TV3-Wireless Group (formerly the TV3 Broadcasting Society). The network has been leading the ratings since 2018 and is currently doing so with low-cost programming.

History

Pre-launch

TV3 was registered in 1986. The key partners of the contender for the national commercial license included NWR Television from Nashland, Express, the Okapi printing company and Pronews. In March 1987, David Plowright, president of NWR at the time, visited TV3's initial facilities and held a 20% stake in the holding company. Under a hypothetical deal with NWR, TV3 would broadcast a lot of programs from the broadcaster, including Coronation Street, which had been on air on TNA for roughly a quarter of a century.

However, difficulties between the two entities resulted in NWR being kicked out of the license. In 1992, Northulian regional media company Southern Cross, owners of several television stations in Howeland and Abelia, proceeded to buy the channel, after rushing away from the Michillies when Ted Turner had a higher bid for the Independent Television Network. Southern Cross now had an estimated 25% stake in the channel.

Southern Cross era (1992-1997)

Weeks ahead of launching, Southern Cross has started to gain a significant foothold on the channel. The official logo, the Southern Cross Television symbol, was adapted for the channel. Likewise, before launch, Southern Cross decided to steal one of the most popular shows of the time: Home and Away, which was underperforming on TNA 1 (then Channel One), and eclipsed by Neighbours. The clause said that the channel would air Home and Away at the same time as Neighbours on TNA 1, but this would create "unfair competition".

Test transmissions started in September of 1992 with test cards, followed on October 1st by five days of experimental programming, and on October 6th, regular broadcasts started. Shortly before 16:00, the channel aired its iconic ident, based on that of Southern Cross Television's ident of the time: five stars flying in the night sky, trailing to make the channel's logo, based on the Southern Cross constellation, also seen on the Northulian flag. After a sponsored timecheck, the first news summary went live on air, and, rather than talking about the launch of the new channel, talked about student demonstrations against payrolls.

When TV3 launched, most of the channel's content was imported. A common sight against many nascent private broadcasters in Eurectipheria, due to the lack of local production other than news and current affairs. Notable programs included the aforementioned Home and Away, Max Headroom, the 60s Batman series starring Adam West and a local sitcom: Cute and Lame. TV3 also created a rather iconic program, Public Square, which included It's a Rather Crazy World, the first North Arlesburian adaptation of Spitting Image. The Iterian game show Colpo Grosso - sexy game al casinò (known as Big Strike on TV3) was the most popular show at launch, largely due to the fact that TNA wouldn't broadcast a game show of such an erotic nature. A local MTV program was also made (though there were unsuccessful attempts to relay at least one program from MTV Eurectipheria).

Criticism emerged, however, in the early years of the network, but such criticism was because the network was unable to buy mostly lesser-known programming that TNA didn't have access to within its budget. Critics said that the imports were of "a rather awful nature", saying that "the Bill Cosby Show and Colpo Grosso are examples of how society is being headed towards".

Within two years of operation, terrestrial coverage and viewership figures grew to unprecedented levels. It had already beaten TNA 1 regularly, but it never reached surprisingly high figures - an estimated 3.6 million watched the live premiere of one of its landmark 90s shows, Big Show, in 1995.

In 1996, TV3 was the center of a documentary produced by the Michillian Broadcasting Corporation, known as This Channel is Yours (named after the words that opened a leadership promo) that was considered controversial due to the depiction of scheduling decisions that the public wasn't aware of.

Keithwest era

After months of negotiations, Keithwest formally bought shares from Southern Cross in September 1997 and rebranded the channel the following month, using branding that would later be used by their soon-to-be corporate sister channel in Irenia. The channel stabilized even further with the inclusion of more and more quality programming.

Having rejected Big Brother to Four in 2000, the channel was in a ratings trap starting September that year. This coincided with the second phase of the Dot campaign that started earlier in the year.

Programming

News

• [NAL] Breakfast with 3News
• [NAL] TV3 News

Entertainment

• [JYG-NAL] Comedy on the Edge

Soap operas

• [NAL] Fate
• [BEN] Under the Bridge

Imports

• [USS] Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders
• [USS] NCIS

Former programming

• Stand Up and Laugh (2003-2006)