Today TV
Today TV is a Bensonian television network, owned by Stuart Dellenham and Marcus Oates. Today TV has modern production facilities, located in Grand Rapids, Galveston, Wide Horizon, Saint Helen and Hampton. Today TV's headquarters are located in the Digital Television Center (DTC), located in Illarani, a suburb of Grand Rapids, where its news division is based. It is the youngest television network, among the five major networks in Bensonia, being a relaunch of Headline Network in 1999. It was the first network worldwide to be broadcast in 3D, even though this experiment shut down. In 2014, the network outlived its predecessor.
History[edit | edit source]
TheTV[edit | edit source]
The history of TheTV traces back to the bankruptcy of its predecessor, Headline Network. On May 10, Headline Network shut down and seven days later, on May 17, started showing a minimalistic logo saying TheTV, in allusion to its new owner. As a temporary channel, TheTV had to take temporary measures facing its potential status as a new network.
In an interview given to leased access program Business Show, Charles Peston said that he was confident that he would become the president of the "new Headline Network", while already mentioning the fact that it already produced television programs for other networks. Eventually the five O&Os that belonged to the Blocks were now under their control. The name Today TV was selected on May 28, from a list of six names (of which TheTV was excluded from), and the name would reflect the fact that the network wouldn't belong to the future, but rather the present. On the same day, a delayed broadcast of the Roland Garros tournament was shown. The name was revealed to newspapers publicly on June 15, toggling between it and Headline.
The pre-launch schedule consisted of infomercials, religious programming and Oriencian shows (tokusatsus and anime). News returned to the network under the new name First Edition. The reruns of Baccanal continued where they stopped, and was close to its end. Headline Clip Show simply became Clip Show. Slowly, one by one, the former Headline shows left the schedule, with Clip Show and First Edition being the last remaining programs of the handover phase, as well as Business, who merged with the larger Business Show.
During the phase as TheTV, the name Today TV was being used internally since June 7 that year, however the channel would still keep the extant branding until the official launch. That being said, it's widely suggested that TheTV is strictly another phase of Today TV, instead of being a separate network.
Launch[edit | edit source]
In the early hours of November 12, 1999, TheTV shut its schedule down to put on the air the following message: "3 days/2 days/1 day left until the dawn of a new age in Bensonian television", with a green background and network logo - with hour, minute, second - for the opening at 7am on the 15th, although it would place program promos every 15 or 30 minutes from the station itself. On the early hours of the 15th, the message changed to "You are a few hours away to witness the launch of a new network".
At 6:59:32am on November 15, the network unceremoniously started broadcasting, as a promo for the Sierran series I Dream of Jeannie appeared. Then the Today TV logo appeared leading into the half-hour program Bensonia Today, its first program.
Early years[edit | edit source]
The network promoted itself as being a "youthful alternative" to the larger networks. While it did have a strong news operation (Bensonia Today, TTV, Tonight TV, Business Today), it did manage to feature a wide variety of programs that catered the youth, including Clip Track (inspired by Clip Show), Friends (left in late 2000 because NTS got the contract) and Superpop (which has long since deviated from its initial purpose). Additionally it aired Female Touch, Kids Today (with some Hanna-Barbera productions) and Arts Today, for other demographics. At 8pm, it aired I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. There was also a number of film slots: TV Choice, inspired by a similar slot on SBC, Movie Magic against SBC's Afternoon Session and Horror Nights on Saturdays. All Ball, a sports discussion show, ran on weekends, and Business Show ran on Sunday nights.
Sadly most of these programs left within less than a year of operation: Kids Today left in mid-2000, Friends left due to SBC bagging a contract with Warner Bros., some of the newscasts didn't work.
