Broadcasting in Illuminatia
Broadcast media represents a major cultural force in Illuminatia, thanks to the population's insatiable appetite for mass media, and the broadcast medium's capacity to serve its audiences with informative, entertaining, and culturally-relevant content that is socially constructive and non-exploitative. The vast majority of the Illuminatian population consumes the aural and visual broadcast mediums on a daily basis.
The most common operators of broadcast outlets in Illuminatia include governmental entities, non-profit organizations, and commercial for-profit entities. The most frequent owners and operators of local broadcast outlets include newspapers, financial institutions, educational institutions, and local governments.
Broadcasters might purvey programming of an informational or entertaining nature as a public service, or, alternatively, for the sake of profit. Illuminatian broadcasting is dominated by one continent-wide public broadcasting network, TI, as well as three major continent-wide commercial network providers, including VB, GWB, and ABN.
Contrary to post-modern-classical Earthly times, on-demand and customized personal and social media never fully developed in Illuminatia thanks to the broadcasting industry's capacity to cater to its audiences. Mainstream audio and visual broadcast outlets were complemented by a diversified selection of special-interest wireless (radio) and [[[Telekinephotocasting in Illuminatia|telekinephotocasting]] (television) channels, allowing linear broadcasting to maintain a strong relevance to its audiences.
Radio broadcasting in Illuminatia is referred to as "wireless" broadcasting in the native Glossa Communi language to differentiate it from its predecessor which was distributed by cable briefly in early Illuminatian history. Television broadcasting, in Glossa Communi, is referred to as telekinephotocasting. A receiver meant to receive telekinephotocasting broadcasts is referred to as a telekinephotron. The motion camera used to record telekinephotocast images is called the telekinescope.
Illuminatian society, thanks to its intense affection for the free flow of ideas, embraces broadcasting as a culturally centric institution and the success of the medium reflects that. The number and diversity of broadcasters demonstrates the average Illuminatian's obsession for being exposed to the ideas and cultural divergences of others. The owners and operators of broadcast media outlets in Illuminatia represent a broad swath of corporations, organizations, and individuals. Broadcast station ownership is non-centralized and highly diverse, unlike most historical Earthly media ecosystems.
Wireless aural and telekinephotocasting video broadcasting utilize the electromagnetic spectrum to transmit audio and video programming to a theoretically unlimited audience. The Bureau of Spectrum Management (BSM) manages the allotment of the electromagnetic spectrum to entities for the purpose of broadcasting and also works with industry to determine the standardized analogue modulation standards used for transmission. Broadcasting in Illuminatia exclusively uses entirely analogue modulation schemes.
Information freedom
Any Illuminatian resident is free to receive and consume any broadcast service available at a given location by whatever practical means desired by the citizen with no limit and without censorship or tax. The only tax relating to broadcasting that is assessed in Illuminatia is the nominal Receiver License. Much like the television license levied by some of the former nations of Earth, the Receiver License is assessed on every device commercially sold that is capable of receiving a wireless (radio) or telekinephotocast (television) broadcast.
Any citizen or entity is also allowed the freedom to exercise their right to free speech using broadcasting as a medium, and all licensed broadcasters allow some venue for this form of free expression as an obligation of their license to broadcast using the public's airwaves. The right to expression via broadcast is also accommodated through frequencies set aside for amateur broadcasting. Additionally, any citizen or entity in good standing with the government is afforded the opportunity to become licensed to originate broadcasts with equal prejudice to any other entity, provided they do so within prescribed limits that protect the same equal privilege enjoyed by other broadcasters and provided they demonstrate the financial and practical ability to maintain such operations.
Historical and technical context
Broadcasting in Illuminatia began as an official communication mechanism among key central command and leadership personnel from the Lucidus mission. A limited supply of two-way communication devices was available after the mission reached the ground, creating a demand for communication and information among the populace.
Wired public address and information systems within camps and settlements evolved into wireless communication systems as the industrial means developed for producing wireless transmitters and receivers. While this technology had already been developed on Earth well into antiquity, Illuminatians were left to reinvent and produce their own technology using technical details supplied to the Lucidus mission and raw resources obtained from the Illuminatian planet.
While publicly-operated wireless broadcast systems were originally the only transmission devices officially recognized, other uncoordinated, non-governmental, not-necessarily-authorized broadcasters emerged to quell public demand for a variety of information and entertainment sources. A haphazard spectrum of various wireless users soon necessitated the need for the Illuminatian government to regulate wireless communication via the Bureau of Spectrum Management.
The BSM established a system in which the existing wireless broadcasts were registered and organized based on geography, transmission power level, and frequency. Governmental and public broadcasters were given first priority for positions within the Ultra Long Wave (ULW) broadcast band. Secondary to that, other broadcasters were given the opportunity to construct and register professionally operated facilities which did not interfere with existing licensed broadcasters. Later, as the ULW broadcast band developed, an adjacent portion of this band was set aside for amateur and experimental broadcasting to benefit entities that wished to diddle in transmission to a potential audience without interfering with other users of the spectrum.
The Illuminatian system of broadcasting quickly organized itself from a collection of scattered independently owned and operated local stations producing their own content. This early incarnation developed into a system of national networks that began providing a significant portion of programming to local stations that chiefly remained independently owned and operated. The earliest and largest continent-wide networks include TI, VB, and GWB.
Despite the rise of networks, Illuminatian broadcasting maintained a standard of local identity and local ownership, with a robust selection of quality locally-produced content existing next to continent-wide network programming.
Wireless broadcasting
- See article: Wireless broadcasting in Illuminatia
"Radio"—or wireless"—broadcasting in Illuminatia commenced regular coordinated public operation within the ULW band of frequencies not long after the introduction of regulation by the BSM.
Wireless broadcasting first took place exclusively in the ULW band. Originally, the BSM allowed only broadcasts with a small geographic reach limited to a city or metropolitan area and licensed this class of stations, known as the Local Information Station (LIS), exclusively to public service governmental entities. Later, broadcasting within the same technical context was opened up to other civic entities, organizations, and other non-profits utilizing stations licensed as a so-called Registered Civilian Station (RCS). ULW broadcasting soon evolved to become dominated by higher-power regional stations, which gave rise to the ubiquity of Illuminatia's broadcast networks.
MW broadcasting in the mediumwave emerged as an improvement upon UWL broadcasting, allowing stereophonic and quadraphonic audio alongside still images. MW broadcasting also relieved the UWL band of the necessity to cater to local audiences, opening up additional channels for a higher number of stations which, due to the limitations of the MW band, are intrinsically limited to broadcasting to a local region.
Telekinephotocasting
- See article: Telekinephotocasting in Illuminatia
It was not until wireless broadcasting reached its maturity that "television""—or telekinephotocasting"—was added to the Illuminatian media landscape. This intentional delay was partially a result of the long time it took for Illuminatian industry to develop the capacity to produce the technology and a commercial scale. This timing also allowed wireless broadcasting to maintain its significance while telekinephotocasting eventually contributed a much-desired layer to media consumption habits.
Telekinephotocasting occupies the Short Wave (SW) band and telekinephotocast stations occupy numbered channels—the specific frequencies of channels are not a part of the stations' public identity. Telekinephotocast outlet ownership and localism looks very much like that of traditional Illuminatian wireless broadcasting. During the burgeoning days of telekinephotocasting, the same existing wireless networks birthed parallel telekinephotocast networks. Wireless and telekinephotocasting now co-exist and thrive, serving their audiences compelling content, highlighting the strengths of either medium.