Yao Bedu
Yao Bedu is a Beduan government television channel owned by the Beduan Broadcasting Corporation. It was founded in 1975 as a consequence of the efforts of the Television Task Force.
History[edit | edit source]
In 1962, the Forces Broadcasting Service set up a television service in Camp Harris, near Kannong in Tsim Ka Sui. Although television was supposed to be limited to the base, it attracted a large audience outside of it, causing pressure from the colonial authorities.
In 1971, the Beduan government, before achieving its independence, started a plan to bring television to the country for civilian use, outside of the base. The plans were to set up a two-channel service, with one channel in Bedu (Bedutoi) and one in English (Eigotoi).
Yao Bedu was created in 1975 to provide programming on VHF channels 1 and 3, 1 being the Bedu channel and 3 being the English channel. The Bedu government later assigned channels 5 and 7 for BETV, the educational service.
The two channels started broadcasting on October 30, 1976. Yao Bedu has a strict "no sex, no violence" policy and imported programming had to be padded down to local decency standards. This led to anger and discontent from Hang Peng broadcasters who were missing out on a potentially lucrative market because of "hardline conservative programming policies". Lenapore which had tamer standards by then started selling its Japanese series to the country, under the permit that Yao Bedu would have to redub them in the local language. Local drama production didn't start until 1982, when Prosperity premiered on the YB Bedutoi. With a limited population and the threat of competition (Commercial Television was set to start in April the following year), the audience thought that a series like Prosperity was a "lost cause", but this was proven contrary.
In the remaining years of Michillian control, despide much of the Bedu Islands being able to receive CTV's signals, many people who were skeptical to the new service showed their distrust, prompting Yao Bedu to enter a golden age. As the influences of the backward Catholic state started to fade, the programming policies started changing and shows that were formerly banned were lifted from such status.