Television in Hopeland

Television is one of the most important forms of mass media in Hopeland. According to 2011 census reports, an estimated 96,7% of the population owns at least one television set.

Television in Hopeland is largely dependent on the television productions made in the United States of Sierra and some other Anglophone countries like Flarland and the Michillies, although local content is also widespread. Investment in local content grew in the 80s and has become one of the world's television superpowers ever since, exporting programs and formats worldwide.

History

1940s

Although television wasn't introduced until 1948, the Albany Technical University conducted closed-circuit television experiments starting in 1941. At the time, the only countries that had television were the United States of Sierra (who were just starting commercial broadcasts), Nashland (limited service due to the country being at war), Saria and Nazi Hartung. Étienne and the Soviet Union had their television services suspended at the time.

Once the war was finished, the government started issuing licenses for television stations. There were two ways to introduce television to the country: either the government would nationalize one of the two dominant radio networks at the time (NBN and IBS) or there would be a two-tier system in which the government would control a network of educational radio and television stations and the commercial networks would set up their own stations. IBS became the first interested network, and was awarded a television license in September 1947. Said station, HWIR-TV, first went on air on June 21, 1948. It was the very first television station in Hopeland, the first in South Sierra and the southern hemisphere as a whole and making it the second country in the continent to get television. However, similar to the USS, there was a freeze in television licenses, given the fact that lots of television stations tried to get new licenses awarded. Granted, the government quickly insisted in giving television a slow launch.

IBS Television, also known as Channel 4, broadcast two hours a day, by September it was now broadcasting four hours a day on weekdays and six on weekends. Programming initially started off with cheap imports from the United States, usually film serials. In June 1949, IBS premiered a local sitcom, Pitcairn Avenue, and the first television series ever made in Hopeland. Later that month, the station's OB van started delivering live rights to air sports transmissions, particularly the national sports, baseball and gridiron football. In spite of the freeze, it was granted to operate a second regular television station in Palmerston, also on channel 4. Said station started regular broadcasts on March 15, 1949.

1950s

At the start of the decade, IBS still had a television monopoly. During this period, dozens of licenses were issued to cover large and small cities. To take care of this situation, new networks were created: the National Broadcasting Network (which had already existed on radio like IBS), the United Broadcasting Service and the ill-fated Zircon Television Network. Lots of new television stations were put on air in 1953 and Hopeland's television industry grew even further. Even the government wanted to create its own television network, known as Hopelandian Educational Television, this later changed to Hopelandian Public Television in 2004. Also at the time, IBS (and later NBN) began investing in the nascent television industry of Great Giana.

However it became apparent that, with television stations signing on almost everywhere in the country and with the geography making microwave links nearly impossible, at least at first, the government decided to concentrate the five largest cities of the time (Albany, Palmerston, New Cardiff, Garden City and Ripponlea) as "urban markets" and the rest as "regional markets", meaning that stations could have to pick up programming from the main centers on delay. Part of this was thanks to HET's plan of making its network available nationwide.

With seven VHF channels allocated to Albany and Palmerston, there were noticeable "gaps" in the networks, resulting in the creation of independent stations. Channel 13 in both cities was intended to be given to a fifth national network known as the Pioneer Network, which never went to the air due to the bankruptcy of ZTN. Channel 5 in Albany was the central affiliate of ZTN, which eventually became Hopeland's second independent television station (channel 13 signed on in 1954 when ZTN was still broadcasting). Channel 11 was given to Ricardo González, a Spanish-language broadcasting pioneer, who set up his own television station in 1955. Several other television stations were later set up in Hispanic-speaking majorities which infuriated the English-speaking broadcasters, to an extent where there would be only one vacant slot for a commercial television station in English.

In terms of programming, Hopelandian television grew, with IBS, the pioneering network, gaining national priority thanks to its efforts in the years of the freeze. Popular Sierran sitcom I Love Lucy premiered in Hopeland on the growing IBS network in 1953, knowing full well that, in order to become a local smash hit (it eventually became one), it had to be picked up nationwide. IBS also pioneered introducing Hopeland's first morning session, running on its Albany station from March of 1953, on weekdays from 7am to 9am, even though television broadcasts did not start regularly until 4pm on the network and as late as 5pm on the competing commercial networks. Eventually the network's growth meant that the program had to be sent to local affiliates of IBS, pre-empting some segments with locally-produced ones and became a trendsetter in Hopelandian television. Thanks in part to the influx of Sierran content, local networks began a process of emulation, under which local formats were made taking cues from Sierran television series. One genre that was "misfitting" for local production was the Western (as in the Sierran westward expansion, not in "western world") genre because, according to an NBN network executive in 1954, "it's not Hopeland's history". UBS took advantage and showed loads of shows falling under the theme, including Bonanza, which helped stabilize the network's ratings.

Due to the lack of UHF infrastructure available at the time (unlike the USS where it was widespread - yet controversial), television stations in secluded regional areas began forming networks taking programming from the "urban" networks even though they were affiliated to one network or more. The Far North was the first region to get a network, a network of four stations known as the Far North Network that was connected by microwave. Additionally, the network had built a fifth station in Tennant Creek. By 1956, NBN and IBS had built microwave networks covering half of the country and had successfully built lines crossing from Albany to Palmerston. Zircon, one of the supposed pioneers, ended operations in August 1956, leaving its stations under other networks or as plain independent stations.

Local television soap operas were introduced in 1956, and, once again, it was IBS who pioneered the genre on national television. Prowley Chemicals decided to sponsor a fifteen-minute slot shown daily at 2:45pm for a show called The Housewives, carried over from IBS Radio where it premiered ten years earlier. The success of The Housewives led to the creation of dozens of series on competing networks, most of them cancelled after a few months (even weeks) on air and some of them sponsored by Prowley.

In 1957, the Pitcairn Avenue series was sold to Hispanic Sierran markets, marking the beginning of the age of exportation.

1960s

The 60s were a key decade for the growth of the local television industry, mainly aided by dozens of television stations that signed on in the previous decade. This time, the main priority was the forthcoming introduction of color television - Hopeland decided to accept the NTSC standard. In 1962, some television stations in Albany were already conducting regular color tests. In October of that year, HXOF-TV, NBN's flagship station, became the first in Hopeland to produce its local programming in color, as well as some networked programming, as the implementation was lagging.

NBN was the pioneer in color broadcasting, with a handful of local and imported series being screened in "bright, living colors", as NBN said at the start of every color show. This was followed by a handful of Sierran imports - already in color because of the Sierran advancements in technology - first on NBN, then on the remaining networks. The last networks to switch were HET and the heavily-decentralized Spanish-speaking network. Some local affiliates still produced programming in black and white as late as 1974 - the last such stations being small voluntary operations strapped for cash.

The 1960s paved way for a profitable export route for Hopelandian television series, being sold to more than sixty countries in this decade.

1970s

During the decade, cable television started to grow in terms of profitability, but the lack of channels and content led to most services being "improvised". After failed experiments in the 1960s, pay-TV starts becoming a reality in 1972, despite initial skepticism about the idea that would last for years.

Television channels and networks

Television is broadcast through OTA stations, with 296 licensed television stations according to the state regulator Hopelandian Communications Commission. Cable, satellite, IPTV and, more recently, internet viewing are also predominant.

As with the entire continent, Hopelandian television stations historically broadcast on VHF channels 2-13 and UHF channels 14-69. The launch of digital terrestrial television services paired the slots down to 14-51 on UHF, with the VHF band remaining intact.

Individual television stations require an HCC license to broadcast legally.

Broadcast television

The service is decentralized, similar to the United States of Sierra and other large Sierran countries. The country has a government-funded television network, Hopelandian Public Television. Individual media markets have their own local television stations, similarly to the USS, they can sign individual deals to broadcast first-run syndicated programming. The main networks are NBN and IBS.

Television designated market areas

Griebland

• Palmerston
• Saint Laine
• Confidence (akin to Sacramento)
• South Hill (akin to Las Vegas)
• Grames (akin to Fresno)
• Eureka (akin to Eureka)

Jenning

• Jenders (akin to Denver)
• Rex (akin to Grand Junction)

Cedar

• Cedaria
• Wellington (akin to Fargo)

Albany

• Albany
• Euston (akin to Albany)
• Troy (akin to Binghampton)
• Exley
• Northland

Wellington

• New Shropshire (akin to Boston)
• New Worcester (akin to Providence and Springfield MA)

Hampshire

• Hamley Downs (akin to Maine and New Hampshire)
• Coltdale (akin to Manchester NH and Vermont)

Erwies

• Phaetro (akin to Pittsburgh)
• Ripponlea (akin to Philadelphia)
• Southfield (akin to Harrisburg)

Lennas

• Hawktin (akin to Austin)
• Austen (akin to Dallas)
• Anley

Arvonia

• New Cardiff (akin to Chicago)
• Carmarthen
• Holyhead

Limber

• Frankwood
• North Woods

Monahan

• Tennant Creek
• Jefferson
• Garden City

Gandenburg

• Frankenmuth
• Lexington

Gilbertland

• Durham

Wadepond

• Trimmell
• Winchester

Hitie

• North Lake City
• Okahara

Rydle

• Jefferson

Palmland

• Cocoa

Thornton

• Aimley

Watiaki

• Watiaki City

Ballis

• Portland
• Eugene

Dontrey

• New Plymouth

Bridgeland

• Hartford

Rhetundo

• Arikanan
• Kao
• Banks

Federal District

• Gatwick

Hakki Islands

• Raikopu

Major broadcasting networks

There are seven large networks: NBN, IBS, UBS, MTN, HPT, OK and U.

Spanish-language television

The most important Spanish-language network is Antena Latina.

Other languages

Television stations in languages other than English and Spanish emerged in the 80s.

Cable and satellite television

The leading cable operator is Echo and the leading satellite operator is HT&T's Astro.

Programming

News

News are a central pillar of Hopelandian broadcast television. The three main networks broadcast national half-hour news programs three times a day (12:30pm, 6:30pm and 11:30pm). Most of the news broadcast on these stations is given to local news, key time slots being early morning (6-7am), noon (12-12:30pm), early evening (5-6:30pm) and late night (11-11:30pm).

HPT, on the other hand, has one newscast shown at 6pm. Unlike the commercial newscasts, it runs for sixty minutes straight rather than half an hour, and taking the advantage of its commercial-free nature, it broadcasts longer interviews without even going into "ad leaks".

Smaller commercial networks still have 6:30pm newscasts. MTN did not have a newscast until 1994 (eventually leading to the creation of the ill-fated MTN News Channel, which would eventually become FOX News Hopeland) and TotalAccess and XTN had one starting from their respective launches. When MTN shut down its network news operation and sold off its news channel, it forcibly removed its own newscast from the schedule and was reinstated in 2017 unter NBN-Disney ownership broadcasting from a supplementary studio. The current OK Network has a newscast produced by IBS News that broadcasts in the same format.

Soap operas

Soaps are a longtime staple of Hopelandian television. The genre didn't even reach television until 1953 at best during the expansion of the national television networks. Like in the USS, the shift of women towards the workplace has led to numerous local soaps being canceled since the mid-80s and forcing the sector to depend heavily on productions from the USS and Northulia.

Imported programming

Imported programming is mostly from the United States of Sierra, however some programming from other Anglophone countries has become popular. In the 90s, Northulian soap operas Neighbours and Home and Away attained larger audiences and jumped from first-run syndication to, respectively, IBS and NBN.

Disparities between the schedules of Sierran and Hopelandian networks

The primary disparity is its location. Although some exports were bought under the condition to air the shows in the same calendar day as the USS, the primary issue lies in the scheming of the season in Hopeland, which, due to it being in the southern hemisphere, usually starts in the first quarter of February.