Television in the Secosa Supernova is a major multi-billion bharnee industry, and consists of millions of hours of programming on many television networks. When it comes to the Secosan media industry as a whole, television has the second-largest market by revenue, after radio. Television has the largest market by volume, with an estimated 2.2 billion television sets sold in the country, according to Warthon-Bartholomew University's School of Technology.
History
4928-5006: Mechanical Television era
Television's roots can be traced to an experimental station in Warthon called WT2-TV, which was an experimental mechanical television station, which had broadcasted in Warthon at 76.3 MHz from 4928 to 4941. However, when the Secosan economy collapsed, the station's funding was cut to a point in which the station could not afford to continue transmissions. As a result, television development was halted until 4945. That year, Robin Nova IV had commissioned a plan to start a television station to serve the Secosan People. The result was the creation of the Daroudo Broadcasting System, or DBS for short. However, there were not enough sets to justify the cost of running the television network, so as a result, the broadcasts were beamed to parlors, which would install antennas on their roofs to provide the picture, and the television image would be seen by guests on a small 7 inch screen. (Television sets would not be produced en masse, and viewed in people's homes, until after the Second Intergalactic War, with the Elgee TV-1 in 5011) The parlor-to-TV business model existed until the start of the Second Intergalactic War, when an invention from Hares changed television forever.
5003: Discovery of satellites
In 5003, the Second Intergalacic War was still happening. However, the Hareans had a secret weapon—they used satellites to track their troops' movements. However, when the Secosans got their hands on their plans for the satellites, they soon started building them, and they had an advantage over the Hareans. The Secosan satellites were superior to the Hareans, and were capable of more. They also could beam television signals—initially for military use. Cameras in the frontlines were made using CRT displays-a feat never seen before in the Secosan Republic. The footage from the cameras would then be beamed by satellite to the Secosan military headquarters in Warthon. That's right—they were used to broadcast LIVE images from the battlefield. This would eventually set the stage for future news programs. Once the war ended, the television business was ready to explode into a new era.
5006-5045: Television boom
At the end of the Second Intergalactic War, the television industry was very small. However, the coverage of Queen Harme Nova's victory speech would be seen in parlors all over Daroudo continent. However, there was a problem—television sets were too big and too expensive for them to be used in the home. As a result, a team of engineers at the newly-established Elgee Technology Company, led by Danbelgo Elgee, decided to create a television that was innovative and cheap at the same time. The result was the Elgee TV-1, which had a 12" black-and-white CRT television screen and capable of recieving antenna and satellite broadcasts. The television was innovative—it was considered state-of-the-art at the time. It was also cheap—the television costed ฿10,000 at the time when most televisions produced in the era costed up to ฿1,800,000! The television went flying off the shelves—as a result, so many were sold that Elgee couldn't keep up with demand, and often they were out of stock. The people who lacked the television often came over to the homes of people who did own the television. It was a massive success for the new company, and as a result encouraged the broadcasters to immediately switch over to a newly developed system called IMB (Intergalactic Media Broadcasting), which would be the standard used by the TV-1 and future sets for the rest of the century. By the mid 5010s, television was on its way to becoming a profitable business in the country. However, it was largely unregulated (and it still is)— anyone who had the money could produce a program for the DBS. This led to unintended consequences. Some programs had profanity, others had sex and nudity, et cetera. This created a lot of uproar among the business, and as a result, the Secosan government passed the Ordinance for Regulating Ethical Content on Secosan Television in 5021. This very law would determine what content was and was not allowed on television until the mid 5110s. Swearing was restricted, sexual content and nudity was restricted to late night hours, violence was intolerant, and children's programming must have at least a moderate presence on television. News programming must be aired at least twice a day, alcohol and drugs are prohibited, and stations must sign on in the early morning and sign off at midnight.
Networks
There are four main broadcast television networks serving the entire country:
- SCT, the public television network aimed primarily at older audiences.
- Secosa 1, a commercial television network based in Weton whose primary programming is aimed at the younger generation.
- OldroTV, a network specializing in Nova-themed programming.
- Kitty TV, a television network aimed primary at Pophalacs (catgirls and catboys).
However, there are many regional stations in the Secosa Supernova, as well as local ones, each targeting a specific audience in that region. They are tied together by the Regional Television System, or RTS for short.