American Divisional Television

History

**American Divisional Television (ADTV)** is an American commercial broadcast television network, and is the 4th long-lasting major American commercial broadcast television network to launch. It is owned by ADTV LLC.

It was conceptualized as a result of founder **Rob Jefferson**'s grievances towards the three major networks at the time, NBC, CBS and ABC, for not feeling local enough towards the people it served, with the network eventually launching March 15th, 1960 after notable delay.

The network is often referred to as **"The Firework Network"** due to it's strong connections to American society, as well as it's large variety of programming across the states.

Notably, from 1950 to 2010, ADTV was operated by **"Member Networks"**, which were state-wide networks that produced local programming and had their own individual branding, similar to the ITV Network's regional companies. These were eventually scrapped, due to worries about the state of the ADTV brand, and the network nationwide is now simply referred to as ADTV, though regional programming is still around.

ADTV has 53 member networks, over 200 affiliate stations, and 10 cable networks as of 2023, as well as Firework+, their streaming service.

## History

### (Early 1950s-1960) Pre-Launch History

The story of ADTV begins at some point in the early 1950s, when 51-year-old Rob Jefferson, who had previously worked as an owner and operator of various independent radio stations, first purchased a television set, when television was still considered a "new technology". He periodically watched programs on NBC, CBS and the DuMont Network, which at the time, was still active, and found himself disappointed by the lack of local flavor, quoted as saying "It all felt so manufactured. I could tell every single one of those programs were made in New York or Los Angeles" in an interview shortly before the network went live.

An unspecified amount of time later in the summer of 1956, Rob took an unrelated business trip to the United Kingdom, more specifically London, where he was suddenly awestruck by the concept of the country then newly-launched commercial network, Independent Television, particularly it's regional structure. The idea of how to solve his annoyance with American network television had suddenly come to him, with him writing down ideas for a "state-by-state regional television service" in his hotel room later that evening.

Originally named **American Regional Television (ART)**, his ideas drew heavy inspiration from ITV, with separate companies bidding for the license to broadcast in a giving state, also having to pass a quality threshold and a reasonable plan for the future, though it was adjusted slightly for the US television market, with affiliate stations now being factored into the mix.

Almost immediately after returning home from his trip, Rob rushed to pitch and get ART approved by the FCC as quickly as possible, and with some minor suggestions and alterations to his original plan, such as a greater authority to help regulate the "member networks", as they were now referred to, as well as renaming the network to **American Divisional Television Network (ADTN)**, then later the now-familiar **American Divisional Television (ADTV)**, the project was given the green-light in the fall of 1957.

However, the network was still far from being broadcast ready, as none of the companies to broadcast to the states had even been decided, never mind any proper programming, so Rob, as well as the rest of the newly formed **American Divisional Network Authority**, searched for any potential parties that would be interested in broadcasting a member network.

Allegedly, many states were relatively simple, particularly in less prominent states such as Iowa, Wyoming, and West Virginia, however there were notable difficulties in larger areas such as California, Texas, and especially New York, due to a high amount of bidders. Another issue was the budget, as while no official numbers have ever come out, many who were around at the time state that finding money for transmitters, studio construction, program production, and various other expenses was rather difficult, with Rob's somewhat low experience and expertise in the television field not helping matters.

The network had originally planned to launched in the summer of 1959, but due to many of the aforementioned issues, many member networks, including major ones like Liberty Television (New York), Atlanta Television Broadcasting Company (Georgia), and Liberty Bell Network (Pennsylvania), did not have the resources or programming for a proper launch, delaying it to early 1960.

Come January 1960, the member networks were finally ready to broadcasting, and on March 15th, 1960, American Division Television, otherwise known as **ADTV** launched nationally, with the exceptions of Alaska and Hawaii.

## Visual Identity

See also: American Divisional Television/Logos.

ADTV's on screen identity has gone through many changes through the network's existence.

Due to each member network having it's own individual branding, ADTV never had a definitive "logo" until the early 90s, however, a design depicting the network's name in uppercase sans-serif boxed by a rectangle could be occasionally seen during startup sequences, promotional materials, and occasional nationwide events starting in the late 70s.

In 1991, ADTV introduced their first official logo, based on the prior "boxed" design, but now with the text atop a blue background, and three colored stripes on the right side, being red, white, and blue, a reference to the colors of the American flag.

Alongside this new logo came a new set of IDs for the entire network, with the station's local ID playing out as normal, but with the new ADTV logo located on the bottom center of the screen, and a simple white stripe animation covered the areas directly left and right to it.

This new logo would be seen increasingly more and more often as the 90s went by, with many regional network incorporating it into their IDs.

In 2010, this new logo was essentially forced on most of the ADTV network, excluding the member networks owned by Liberty as well as RicoTV, Puerto Rico's ADTV member network, as regional identity was effectively eradicated, with most member networks being rebranded as "ADTV [State]". For example, Golden Television, ADTV's California network, was simply renamed to ADTV California.

Alongside this change came a new ID, with the ADTV logo fading into view over a blurry blue-ish background, while the state name is yellow text appears underneath.

This would also be scrapped the following year, as in 2011, the entire network was once again rebranded on-screen as just "ADTV", albeit keeping the same ID.

2015 saw the logo get completely redesigned after over 20 years of use, with the removal of the box, the text being changed to lowercase, and the three stripes being swapped out for three dots, albeit with the same colors.

This design saw two IDs during it's lifespan, the first being short-lived and depicting the new logo being revealed over and abstract white background, and the second, introduced a year later, showcasing various American landmarks before ending on a shot of the Washington Monument with the ADTV logo plastered on the right.

ADTV's current design, as well as it's current ID, was introduced on March 15, 2021, the 61st anniversary of the network's launch, and was designed by Gretel. The design is heavily based on ADTV's 1991 look, with the return of the stripes on the side, and the text now back in uppercase, however the stripes are now rounded off and the entire logo has been italicized.

Current ADTV CEO **Janette Walce** describes the new look as "a way to pay tribute to what's come before where we are now, and to also look towards the new and exciting future of the network".