White Ark TV

White Ark TV is a television broadcast service currently owned and operated by Niobium Moon Studios. Inspired in part by the rise of indie animation on the likes of YouTube and Newgrounds, White Ark is designed primarily as an entertainment service, specializing in animated series, shorts, and films developed by community writers.
==Background==
White Ark was first conceived by in 2016 during a discussion about current state of the cartoon industry, and its reliance on reboots of older shows as well as low quality original ones (most notably live-action shows for the latter). This lead to the idea of creating an original TV network, built around avoiding those disliked concepts in modern cartoons and allowing writers to broadcast shows of their own.
The channel's first show, Cat's Meow, was announced on September 12, 2016, and some writers expressed interest in producing shows for the network. Development continued over the next few years, and although Pyra gradually lost motivation and interest in directing the project, it was eventually picked up by on April 6, 2020.
Niobium Moon Studios' initial pitch was to update the original White Ark Channel into one of two halves of a new "White Ark TV" brand, with the other half being a streaming service. However, with some reevaluation of priorities due to the current state of streaming services, the overall White Ark concept was revitalized into something very different - a Newgrounds-esque platform where content creators could freely post their animations and share them however they saw fit, with better monetization policies compared to YouTube's offerings.
==Overview==
White Ark TV takes a lot of cues from Newgrounds and Archive Of Our Own in terms of its general structure. Trending animations can be found on the home page, alongside buttons linking to sections based around different genres, like action, comedy, mystery, horror, etc. When you make a White Ark account, you will be asked to select your top three genres, which allows the service to curate recommended content for you to watch. You can also follow animations and creators you want to keep up with, and their latest updates will show up on the home page when you are logged in.
Uploading an animation to White Ark TV can be done in a few easy steps. When you upload a compatible video file, you will need to apply a few tags for it - at least one genre tag, and an age rating tag. You'll also need to specify whether it is an original animation or a fanwork; only original animations can be directly monetized, to prevent any potential copyright issues with companies like Nintendo, Disney, etc. There are other monetization options available, however, such as giving your followers the option to donate or subscribe to your account. If you decide to monetize an original animation, you will be able to choose where ads can play, so as to not hurt the viewer's experience of watching your content. In terms of payment, you can link your account on PayPal, CashApp, or a similar service to your White Ark account, or type in your credit/debit card information to allow White Ark to send your income directly to your bank account.
On the main page, you can access a separate section to view text and/or image posts from creators and animations you're following. Creators and studios can use this feature, along with a comments section beneath each published animation, to reach out to their fans and communicate with them. They can also choose to post content that only subscribers can access, such as behind-the-scenes footage or sneak peeks of upcoming releases.
==Shows Published on White Ark TV==
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Name 	Description 	Writer(s)	Premiere Date
Cat's Meow	Cleo- a normal 19-year-old archaeology student, studying ancient Egyptian culture and hoping to make it big someday with a groundbreaking new discovery. After the discovery of a long-lost tomb dedicated to a cat-obsessed priestess alongside her professor, her dream seems to have been realized... But not without a price. After a series of robberies and strange dreams, Cleo comes to the realization that she's been possessed by some form of cat-like spirit, a mischievous force using her body for its own thievery and pranks. When a series of chaotic villains arise from similar possessions, Cleo is forced to team up with the spirit inside her body and use her cat burglar skills to help fight crime; that is, when she isn't forced to cause it.	 	TBA 2024
==Trivia==
*The name White Ark comes from Japanese mythology, where it is said that a white ship will come to save certain members of the human race from the apocalypse. The project's original creator, ValkyriePyra, chose this name as a humorous jab at the animation industry, promoting the message that White Ark is trying to "save" it.
Category:White Ark TV
Category:Nio's Stuff