Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation

From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search

This article refers to Pacitalia's largest television broadcaster, as this is the most common use for the three-letter abbreviation in NS. For other uses, see PBC (disambiguation).

Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation
pbc_2007logo.png

Type
 
Broadcast radio and digital
high-definition television network
Country Pacitalia_smaller.jpg Pacitalia
Availability

 
Nationally; internationally via PBC International, the PBC International Service, and PBC.pc

Slogan There's more to explore. (2007— )
Motto Pictor vera (Truth in the image)

Workforce 101,900 (2007)
Operating budget Ð 73,9 bln (2007)

Audience statistics
Audience share
-- National
-- Peak
-- Pan
-- Best performer

35.4% (National, 2007)
42.0% (Meritate)
25.9% (Beracanto)
PBC One -- National: 22.3%

Key people


 
Gianmarco Arrimi, director-general
Miguel de Sámpagual, trust chair
Manolis Chrissoula, VP operations
Allegretta Puttara, VP news
Established
 
1924 (radio)
1950 (television)

Website http://www.pbc.pc

The Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known by the abbreviation PBC, is Pacitalia's largest television broadcasting network, and one of the largest in both Atlantian Oceania and the NS world in terms of audience numbers. As of 2007, it employs a staff of 101,900 people and maintains an operating budget of Ð 73,9 bln (source).

Founded in 1924 through the Radio Creation Act, the Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation was incorporated as a state-owned broadcaster that year and experienced massive growth due to the popularity of the radio. It developed television broadcasting services in 1950 and has since grown to broadcast to over 1,000 countries with an average total domestic audience share around 32 percent and an average foreign audience share of 4-6 percent.

The PBC operates as an autonomous hybrid public-private broadcaster. It is run by the Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation Trust Group (PBC-TG), an independent board of directors with broadcasting experience staffed by advisors that serve a maximum of two six-year terms. It operates on behalf of the broadcaster and ensures that the corporation fulfills its obligations to the Broadcasting Standards and Operations Commission and to the Pacitalian public.

As it is no longer a fully public broadcaster (in fact, the government now owns only 2 percent of the corporation), it currently relies on advertising and end-user licensing fees to generate revenue. This scheme is seen as much better for the PBC's operational structure: adjusted for inflation, the last fiscal-year budget for the PBC under a taxpayer-funding scheme totals only 19 percent of its FY2007/08 operating budget. Despite the now-lack of government intervention and direction in the PBC's operations, its core mission statement continues to be "the provision of quality, wholesome, domestic, meticulously-constructed programming for which all Pacitalians can be forever proud" (source).

Affectionately referred to as Patch by Pacitalians, the PBC has developed into a core national institution through its long-standing reputation as a purveyor of high-quality media and of Pacitalian values to both domestic and foreign audiences.

History

The Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation was established in 1924 by the Government of Pacitalia as the nation's first short-wave civilian radio transmission network, after intense lobbying by the group known as Pacitalians For Radio Introduction. In the Radio Creation Act, the government stipulated that no less than ten long-range transmission stations should be set up, under the name of the Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation. The act also stated that the company would be 100% state-owned for at least 10 years.

A fledgling network

On September 1, 1924, the PBC first came into existence with stations in Timiocato, Nortopalazzo, Mandragora, Saronno, Sambuca, Puntafora, Il Monterio, Capagatta, Athalone and Amita. Each station had an approximate broadcast range of 315km on the AM frequency. Listenership during the first five years was solid as the PBC introduced good programming with interesting hosts such as conservative talk host Paolo Martozini and his liberal counterpart, Alberto Azpa. News was a staple of PBC in its early years, with fifteen-minute news bulletins taking place at 0900, 1200, 1500, 1800 and 2100 hours.

In November 1928, the network expanded to fourteen stations with the addition of smaller transmission bases in Puerta Vallarta, Mazatilano, Lucifora and Murano. The average daily reach (ADR) of the corporation between 1924 and 1930 was 26.3 million, a solid number that continued on through the economic recessions of the 1930s.

In 1934, the act's statement that the network stay fully public for 10 years expired, and fifty percent of the network was sold to a new operating authority created specifically to run the PBC: the Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation Trust Group. A further twenty percent was sold to the company in 1937.

Radio broadcasting continued to steam ahead at full power into the 1940s, with the addition of over forty retransmission stations for the ten primary and four secondary network affiliates. Listenership increased to around 40 million in 1943, and further to 42 million in 1945.

PBC moves forward

<div" class="plainlinksneverexpand">PBC1950.jpg
The traditional ident that displayed while an announcer proudly declared the PBC slogan of the time, "Pacitalia's Choice!" and subsequently listed the upcoming programming on the fledgling network.
</div>

At the end of 1946, television sales in Pacitalia jumped drastically, but there was one problem - there were no broadcasters in Pacitalia capable of television broadcasting, which meant televisions were basically useless except for picking up local independent affiliates that had recently set up and had little or no interesting programming.

Another reform in media started in February 1947, with the beginning of peaceful protests by Pacitalian Families for Broadcasting Progression. The organisation argued that if Pacitalia wanted to progress well as a society, an advanced media form was needed to keep the nation up to par with other nations. At first, PBC executives disagreed with the group, saying television was too expensive and cumbersome for the network to attempt any move into television. However, as other nations began the move into television, PBC in the next two months realised their judgment the first time around was shortsighted and immediately began the creation of television broadcasting facilities in Timiocato, Nortopalazzo, Sambuca, Il Monterio and Athalone, with Timiocato being the main centre of broadcast.

It took just over two years, but it was more because of the thoroughness of a television operation desired by the executives than slowness on the part of the company. On 1st February, 1950; PBC began its first transmissions as a television network, beaming long-wave television signals to 65 million homes around the country. Ironically, despite the PBC's wariness that it would be behind by international standards by starting its television broadcasting system at that date, were defied by fate - they were one of the first to start up successfully.

Television expansion

Colour television was introduced to Pacitalia in 1957. PBC, the sole broadcaster at the time, jumped on the chance to broadcast in colour and hence updated its logo/ident on January 1, 1958.

<div" class="plainlinksneverexpand">PBC1958.jpg
This was the first colour ident used in Pacitalia. It was the red PBC logo of the late 1950s and 1960s in front of a basic television matrix. The announcer came on and said "You're watching Pacitalia's Choice!" and listed the upcoming programming for the next three hours.
</div>

Through the 1960s and 1970s the corporation continued to expand under the Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation Trust Group, which also acquired Moepoeian state broadcaster MPTV in 1973. Programs like game shows, sitcoms and dramas began to populate PBC programming. In 1976, PBC expanded its news bulletins to half-hour and hour broadcasts (the hourly ones at 1800 and 2300, the half-hour ones at 0730, 1300 and 1600).

In the late 1970s, more Pacitalian-produced movies began to air on PBC, and late-nights became a source of controversy when PBC began airing rather risqué movies at 0100 and 0200 in the morning. The movies were pulled from the airwaves by a government order in 1979.

In 1982, rival private television network PTN (Pacitalian Television Network) began operations, which of course stole viewers away from PBC. In response, PBC diversified its operations, setting up PBC 2 and PBC 3 and renaming the original network to PBC 1. This monopoly on the television airwaves was objected by PTN but since PBC was still partially state-owned, no action was taken. The government sold off all but 10% of the total value of PBC to the Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation Trust Group in 1984, making the ownership share 90-10.

Further expansion

PBC expanded to five television networks in 1986 with the creation of PBC 4 and PBC 5. In addition to that, cable television had been introduced the previous year, allowing PBC to expand to nearly all of Pacitalia's television sets.

In addition to this, the PBC began signal transmission to Hamptonshire, Amarenthe and the-then Azazian Commonwealth in 1987. The signals were strengthened by the introduction of satellite media transmission in 1990, which allowed PBC to be seen worldwide by people that had the appropriate technology to harness a signal. After developing a channel dedicated entirely to broadcasting in foreign homes which launched in early 1991, PBC was guaranteed true worldwide viewership through the introduction of household satellite TV services in developed countries between late 1994 and early 1995.

Modern times

<div" class="plainlinksneverexpand">pbc1_2007thumb.png
From February 2007, the on-air look on PBC1.
</div>

PBC has grown on its reputation for quality news programming, rivalled only by Pacitalia's news-centric national broadcaster, PNN, which launched in 1990. Prominent anchors have enjoyed long, accomplishing tenures at the network's various news operations, most notably Marco Vertastati, widely considered the greatest news anchor in world history. Vertastati served as supper-hour anchor of PBC National News from 1979-2002.

In 2000, the government agreed to sell off its remaining shares to private ownership in exchange for control of PBC 5, making it the sole public broadcasting station in Pacitalia. However, PBC 5 was sold back and it, along with PBC 4 was to be shut down in anticipation of the Broadcasting Standards and Operations Commission's Equal Playing Field report, released in late May 2006, which modified the television market to allow smaller networks a chance to catch up and reach a greater audience while increasing fiscal responsibility among broadcasters.

However, in a new agreement reached late in 2006, the PBC was permitted to keep all five channels running with the express agreement that its television networks cannot broadcast in languages other than English and Pacitalian except to provide secondary audio program (SAP) audio overlays to non-English/Pacitalian-speaking countries receiving its transmissions. It was also allowed to maintain multilingual programming on its radio stations and multilingual support on its website, PBC.pc. The PBC and sister network RLP were brought under one operating umbrella effective 1st January, 2007. The two networks commemorated 57 years in television broadcasting, relaunching with a new look on 5th February, 2007 to reflect their sibling status and full conversion to HD-only programming.

<div" class="plainlinksneverexpand">rlpcenotte_thumb.png
From February 2007, the on-air look on RLP.
</div>

Core values

According to its mission statement, the PBC strives to maintain delivery of its services through the following core values:

  • sustaining citizenship and civil society;
  • promoting education and learning;
  • stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;
  • representing Pacitalia, its nations, regions and communities;
  • bringing Pacitalia to the world and the world to Pacitalia;
  • helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services, and taking a leading role in the switch to digital television.


Symbols

Nicknames

"Patch"

Historians and the PBC alike are unsure as to how the corporation got the nickname in the first place, but by the time it had become popularised as a pseudonym for the PBC, the network capitalised on it and named a mascot dog, a border collie, Patch and used it on-air in idents starting in 1955. Former PBC National News anchor Marco Vertastati named his first dog, Patch, in honour of the network.

The Bolt

The Bolt is a more obscure nickname given to the PBC to describe its idents and on-air graphical look before 1958, which contained four lightning bolts in the way of radio transmissions.

Services

Television

  • PBC One - main network, high-rating programming
  • PBC Two - news, current affairs, documentaries and educational films
  • PBC Three - children's and youth programming
  • PBC Four - new media and upcoming talent
  • PBC Five - live events and cinema
  • PBC International - PBC's international transmission
  • RLP - Radiotelevisione in Lingua Pacitaliana, the PBC's Pacitalian-language network

Radio

  • PBC Radio 1
  • PBC Radio 2
  • PBC Radio Ellinika - Greek-language broadcasts
  • PBC Radio Español - Spanish-language broadcasts
  • PBC Radio Romanà - Romanian-language broadcasts
  • PBC Radio Pacitaliana - Pacitalian-language broadcasts
  • PBC International Service - International transmission

Other television holdings

  • Genta - National children's broadcaster
  • Indefa - National independent movie and film broadcaster
  • Meterox - National weather forecast broadcaster
  • PBCFN - PBC Financial News (markets and finance broadcaster)
  • PBCNews24 - Up-to-the-minute modern news broadcaster
  • Quattro - Timiocato independent station (formerly known as Channel 4)
  • Symphonica - National video music broadcaster

Other information

Television slogans

  • 1950: Pacitalia's Choice!
  • 1972: Pacitalia's Number One Network
  • 2001: 1972 slogan is kept, but each "number" network gets its own individual one-word slogans for program listings, advertisements and idents.
    • PBC 1 - Connect.
    • PBC 2 - Feel.
    • PBC 3 - Explore.
    • PBC 4 - Laugh.
    • PBC 5 - Experience.
  • 2007 - There's more to explore.

Radio slogans

The radio slogan has always been "a treat for the ears".


Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC)
Main article
Broadcast television: PBC One · PBC Two · PBC Three · PBC Four · PBC Five · PBC International · RLP
Specialty television: PBCNews24 · PBCFN · Genta · Indefa · Meterox · Quattro · Symphonica
Radio: PBCRadio1 · PBCRadio2 · PBCRadio Ellinika · PBCRadio España · PBCRadio Pacitaliana · PBCRadio Romāne · PBC International Service
Other assets / info: PBC Trust Group · PBC.pc · RLP.pc · PBC National News


Broadcast television networks of Pacitalia
English providers: PBC | Network Two | Trio | FBC | TelePacitalia
Pacitalian providers: RLP | CTP | Third provider launches 2007
Other providers: GTV | Perspecta