Television in Flarland

Television in Flarland started in 1950 as a government-backed service. Currently, Flarland has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year at a cost of FL$2.6 billion. Since June 30, 2011, all television broadcasts in Flarland have been in a digital format, following the end of analog transmissions in Wembley. Digital content is delivered via terrestrial, satellite and cable, as well as over IP. As of 2003, 53.2% of households watched through terrestrial, 31.3% through satellite, and 15.6% through cable.

History

Experiments

Although the FBC had the first regular broadcasts, the University of Wembley was credited for the first television experiments, conducted as far back as 1925, when radio had started to operate and when television was still not regular. There were numerous consultancies with other television pioneers, including John Logie Baird himself in 1930 - four years before he famously opened the regular broadcasts of the National Television Service in his native Saria.

In the late 30s and early 40s, the university conducted further experiments using the Televisor system and 405-line technology. The last time such services were used was in July 1946. At this point, the government began awarding two licenses for television in Flarland. The University of Wembley and the FBC were interested.

1950-1959

Regular television transmissions started in Wembley on 1 October 1950. They were controlled by the Flarlandian Broadcasting Corporation. Eleven months later, the University of Wembley started its television transmissions: first as an educational tool, and later as a conventional broadcaster. Broadcasts usually lasted up to two hours. The FBC decided to go one step ahead and introduce television advertising right from the launch day, as means to attract more viewers. Most programs were directly sponsored, as was the standard until the early 60s.

In this phase, although there was a slight dominance of local programming, including live news bulletins, television relied on Sierram imported films and television series, including Pitcairn Avenue and I Love Lucy, which were among the most profitable imports of the first few years on the FBC's television service.

Broadcasts were limited to Wembley until February 1951 when the FBC inaugurated the Northern Center in White Castle, allowing the FBC to branch into regional programming, an idea emulated over from radio, and would later be copied by IBC.

University of Wembley Television started broadcasts on 1 September 1951, in time for the new term at the university, and was an educational service in nature, despite carrying news and educational programming. The educational to entertainment ratio was 3:1. In later years, the ratio was to change.

In 1955, inspired by the success of the Nashlandian Independent Television Network that had just started, the Inter-Regional Broadcasting Corporation decided to branch out into television. The government allowed IBC to commence operations the following year and broadcasts in Wembley started in October 1957. IBC used a unique structure in which it was a television co-operative, with individual regions using individual brand names. In 1960, the network was now broadcasting nationwide.

The FBC and the University of Wembley all cried fowl over competition at first because the two public broadcasters were facing possible losses, however it was made clear that IBC would work as an "FBC with adverts".

1959-1968

The decade ended with all of Flarland being covered by television signals, the FBC also launched a second channel as an experimental service in 1959, and it served as an inspiration for other Eurectipherian broadcasters. Flarlandian productions now relied on videotape rather than being live, an innovation that few shows had, in order to avoid being removed from the archives, most shows that used to be live had to be re-recorded.

1962 saw Flarland being oficially linked to the microwave network of the Eurectipherian Broadcasting Union, the Eurectivision network, after finding a way to reach to Flarland using limited capabilities. However, there were still a few issues that weren't even solved with the technology of the time. Flarland didn't oficially compete in the Eurectivision Song Contest until 1964, when such problems were solved.

Flarland would later be one of the countries that broadcast the iconic One World special that tested the limits of satellite broadcasting.

1968-1990

In 1968, all Flarlandian television channels at the time (FBC 1, FBC 2, IBC, Channel 13, Channel Ten) started regular color broadcasts, yet black and white programming was still produced as late as 1976, either due to lack of money or a high concentration of black and white television sets. The PAL format was selected, becoming the fourth country in the world to adopt it. In 1972, the FBC made history by exporting its first television series to an international audience, the then-recent Murder at Hampton Lane, a thirteen-part television series, that became successful in Hopeland, the Ashtalaic countries, Northulia and south-eastern Sondria. Nevertheless, most of the Flarlandian content was usually catering local tastes rather than having the international field in mind, even though the characters of said series were typically Flarlandian. This did help improve Flarland's economy, as television was now in its golden age.

There was a minor issue during the April 1974 protests, as Flarland's economy was slightly flawed until then. The FBC was heavily monitored by the government and its news operation was considered "sensible" to opposition news. Following the opposition protests, IBC and Channel Thirteen saw a notorious uptick, especially in the months that followed that caused much political instability to Flarland.

By 1981, cable television services were being experimented in some areas, the most noteworthy operator being Lowestoft Cable. A group of regional cable companies formed Cable Flarland in 1991.

1990-1996

In 1990 three new nationwide UHF networks were created, so as to balance the number of networks the FBC and the University of Wembley had.

1996-2004

Ahead of the Olympics, digital broadcasting started, first by satellite, then by cable and terrestrial in 1998.

2020-present

The pandemic triggered a negative impact to the television industry. Flarland seemed to have the most negative reactions as broadcasters like the UWB imposed a new policy forbidding shows to be broadcast from the presenter's home, as well as daytime shows being cancelled in favor of repeats of older programming. Initial hopes for a year-end conclusion were proven false, and new programs were created.

The pandemic also brought to the table the concept of "systemic nationalism" to the main television channels, including the leading commercial networks IBC and Ten, and to a lesser extent UWB and the FBC. In June 2020 IBC decided to remove most movies from its weekend programming. The cause was supposedly related to the pandemic but actually served as a "money booster" for the daytime TV industry, hit hard by the pandemic. Critics started saying that "this was a masterplan to end the weekday/weekend difference".

After the FBC was stormed on January 6, 2021, and the opening ceremony of Winston Albert later that month, the media paradigm in Flarland changed considerably.

Broadcasting

Terrestrial

The main delivery method of Flarlandian television is terrestrial. The main broadcasters manage the Freeview platform.

Channels

National terrestrial

Flarlandian Broadcasting Corporation:

• FBC 1
• FBC 2
• FBC 3

University of Wembley Broadcasting:

• Channel Thirteen
• Channel 14
• Channel 15
• Thirteen News Network
• K-Zone

Programming

News

The central pillar of most of the older television channels, including FBC 1. FBC 1, IBC, Channel Ten and Channel Thirteen all have four central newscasts: morning, 13:00, 19:30 and late night. Each of the four national operators all have their news channels.

Regulation

Advertising and product placement

Television channels are forced to include at least twelve minutes of advertising per hour.

Product placement laws are lax by nature, compared to other countries.