Television in Wa

Television was introduced fairly late in the day to Wa, in July 1983, owing to its isolated status. For many years (until 2014), all television was under the auspices of the Wanian Broadcasting Corporation.

History

Opposition to introduction

Radio was already introduced quite late to Wa, and the first broadcasts were held in September 1947. Introducing television was a complicated task, as studies came to the conclusion that signals that were coming in from one island could easily be picked up on the fringes of another, and due to federal status, this was deemed "illegal". It wasn't until 1965 when the first Television Committee gave the WBC a plan to introduce television to Wa, but there was controversy, and even a black and white service would cause cultural interference.

One of the human members of the cabinet was "confounded" at a television demonstration in Hopeland in 1963, and said that "there will be no place for television in Wa. Television is a corruption of our unique culture", adding ironic value to his statement, considering that, has the then-BSPKW opened a television service, it would focus on revitalizing local culture.

The Television Committee

In late 1967, a group of international businessmen decided to establish the Television Committee, and its primary task was to bring television to Wa. One of the companies provided to do the task was Television International Enterprises, who signed on a few television channels around the Caraiban Sea and in slightly impoverished Bulungian countries, before South Bulungi did so.

Introduction of television

In January 1981, the king signed a deal to launch a WBC-led television service, and that the WBC headquarters had to be extended in order to accomodate television, at least for the Phineas sub-kingdom. There were a few problems, including the continental classification. There were disputes claimed by the South Bulungian Broadcasting Corporation and Hopelandian broadcasters (both countries are the nearest large Anglophone countries to Wa) to bring coverage of selected events to the country, including the World Cup and other sporting events.

The first regular broadcasts, almost exclusively in English, were held in November 1982, in the Phinean subkingdom. The daily broadcasts ran from 7pm to 11pm every evening. About a year later, broadcasts opened at 6 and ended between 10 and midnight. Most of the programs seen on the new service were imports, and local programming was initially constrained to the news. Warren had to wait until July 1984 to introduce a television channel, TV Warren, also owned by the WBC. Unlike radio, television signals were still faced by reception issues and the capital was farther away from the nearest area where television signals were capable to reach.

Wa didn't adopt a license fee at first. The WBC decided to make its service commercial instead.

The WBC service had a bilingual remit: three quarters of the weekly schedule had to be in English and the rest in Wanian. Initially the Wanian language department of the WBC produced news bulletins and programs for kids in order to preserve the language for future generations. Despite these remits, the English-language programming received more reception.