IBC (TV channel)

IBC is a Flarlandian commercial television channel owned by the Independent Broadcasting Corporation. It is the first commercial service in Flarland, starting operations in Wembley on October 6th, 1957.
IBC as a consistent national channel (with dedicated slots for regional news and other regional programs) evolved out of the old IBC network – a federation of separately owned regional companies which had significantly different local schedules and branding. During the 1990s, the differences between the schedules in each region gradually reduced – partly through the consolidation of ownership and partly through the standardisation in the volume and scheduling of regional programs.
From 1996 to 2002, a major change of appearance occurred when almost all IBC regions adopted national continuity. Regional logos vanished and regional names were mentioned only before regional programs. Effectively this left IBC looking like a national channel with slots for regional opt-outs – like FBC 1 – rather than a group of independent regional broadcasters sharing programs.
IBC is today the biggest and most popular commercial television channel in Flarland. IBC, and its predecessor regional channels, have contended with Channel Thirteen and FBC 1 for the status of Flarland's most watched television channel since the 1950s. However, in line with other terrestrial channels, IBC's audience share has fallen as a result of availability of multi-channel television in Flarland, free or pay.
==History==
===Setup===
The government initiated a study of commercially-operated television in 1954. As television channels were built upon existing radio networks, the logical choice was for IBC to enter the television industry. The law was passed in April 1955 and the first licenses were given to IBC's Wembley service in 1956.
Like its parent company, the network was going to be a regional television co-operative. IBC was composed of numerous companies, with the central headquarters being occupied by IBC Wembley. Each individual company did the same as on radio: services would provide local news and programming as well as network programming supplied by Wembley. IBC was going to provide nationwide news under a nationwide service.
The launch of the network was highly controversial, and was cried out by many of the policy makers of the time as being "sick and wrong". Although commercials were allowed on FBC and UW Television, there were rules that limited breaks to run for one minute and that shows wouldn't be sponsored directly by any given company. IBC was following a Sierran pattern, highly decried as being "vulgar". The government established a set of rules for IBC's television service in April 1956, as the service would feature more advertising but with restrictions.
IBC's Wembley station launched on October 6, 1957, on the 25th anniversary of IBC Radio. The network was built until 1960. By then, all of Flarland had access to the network. There were usually four or five "moneymakers" while the rest of the companies were concentrated more on local efforts. IBC also faced stiff competition from Screenworks, which had set up its filmed television production division, with ambitions to export its catalog around the world; IBC companies had to outsource before starting work on ambitious projects that were pre-recorded, until 1962 the bulk of the network's productions were live shows.
===Strikes===
IBC went on a massive strike in 1979 that shut down the entire network.
===Recovery and second golden age===
The strike cost, and IBC resumed its services at as a limited operation in October 1979. By December, IBC companies have agreed upon a plan for the coming decade, to improve the quality of their productions and resume massive exporting, a feat that the state-run FBC was already doing, and had successfully eclipsed IBC's efforts in doing so.
===Deregulation===
The 1990 Broadcasting Act meant that the Inter-Regional Broadcasting Corporation was to be renamed Independent Broadcasting Corporation and that more than one company would operate a license to run IBC, rather than individual operations. The first measure, in February 1991, was the merger of the separately-branded IBC Wembley and IBC Northwest. Other companies didn't merge until 1993, and some of the smaller companies (apart from Ammer Television) were still independently-owned by 1999. At the same time, a new round was called to replace IBC licenses with new ones by September 1991. Some of the services, as a product of the few months between the awarding of the license and the September launch date of the new services, led to some of these operations running at a shoestring.
Between 1993 and 1995, IBC bought six of its regional stations, rebranding them as [Region]Live TV (i.e.: MidlandsLive TV). All IBC-owned regions adopted the IBC Mandate in September 1996. This meant that, instead of calling the above names, it was now known as IBC [region name] (i.e. IBC Midlands).
===2000s===
===2010s===
===Hacking and internal crisis===
The main IBC channel was also affected by the large-scale hacking of the IBC Group websites and social media accounts in January 2022.
===Accusations of dumping===
==Regions==
Currently IBC operates the following regional services:
Broadcast area	Pre-IBC branding 	Post-IBC branding
Wembley 	IBC Wembley 	IBC
Whitecastle 	Northern Television 	IBC
Waverly Hills 	Television West 	IBC
Darwinia 	Seashore Television 	IBC
Mount Pleasant	North East Television 	IBC
Camarthen 	Camarthen Television 	IBC
The Midlands 	Midlands Television 	IBC
Berkshire 	Berkshire Television 	IBC
The Flatbush 	Flatbush Television 	IBC
Norfolk 	New Coast Television 	IBC
Ammer Valley 	Ammer Television 	IBC
Suffolk 	Suffolk Television 	IBC
Chichester 	Ribble Television 	IBC
Talcolm 	Seek Bridge Television	IBC
Between 1964 and 1994, a separate license for the planned city of Townsville, unable to receive signals of Television West, existed under the name of Townsville Television, however, due to instability with the platforms that sustained it and prior financial difficulties, the channel was shut down in June 1994, being replaced by a relayer of TVW (renamed WestLive TV in September 1994). Townsville was decommissioned on November 11, 1994, when one of the platforms collapsed.
Seek Bridge Television disaffiliated from IBC on April 23, 2024 and Flatbush Television on June 30. In both areas, the IBC multiplex was remapped with the IBC service - with news and commercials aiming at the Wembley area - moving over to channel 91 on Freeview and subscription television operators in both regions.
There is also an overseas service, IBC Eumoritown, directly operated by IBC since 2003. It is the only overseas territory where it operates a service.
==Programming==
==Branding==
==Subsidiary channels==
===IBC HD===
IBC started HD broadcasts on June 1, 2006, the second Flarlandian network to do so after the FBC, with a limited schedule consisting of sporting events and feature films. From 2009, IBC HD became a partial simulcast of IBC's main channel, with no local programming; from 2013, with all regional services converted to HD, it became an exact simulcast of the SD service.
===IBC +1===
Timeshift channel available on Freeview 503.
===Overseas partners===