Partition of VB

Original entity: Vos Broadcasting (VB), public-private partnership

Surviving entities: Vos Broadcasting (VB), for-profit corporation; and Trans-Illuminatia Network (TI), non-profit organization

Industry: Broadcasting

Entity types: Public-private partnership, for-profit, non-profit

Product: Wireless and telekinephotocasting networks, production of wireless and telekinephotocast programming

The partition of VB refers to an event early in the history of broadcasting in Illuminatia which resulted in the reorganization of Illuminatia's at-the-time dominant wireless network into two separate independently-run networks. The original entity—a public-private partnership known as Vos Broadcasting (abbreviated VB) was split into two discrete entities—a non-profit public network known as the Trans-Illuminatia Network (abbreviated TI), and a for-profit enterprise under the surviving name Vos Broadcasting (VB).

This strategic split was instigated by the administrators of Illuminatia’s broadcasting infrastructure at a point during the history of the continent's broadcasting at which the programming output, the infrastructure broadcasting itself, the economy of broadcasting, and the audience population reached a level that could support a larger sustained body of broadcast offerings.

As the original VB wireless network gradually differentiated into two distinct program streams largely served by different sets of transmitters and produced largely by different production houses, it became clear that the broadly mainstream and cultural orientation of VB's smaller second network could be best-served by operating as a commercial enterprise; meanwhile it became apparent that the original network's public-service orientation would find its best fit being completely separated from the public-private partnership and operated entirely on a non-profit basis by public entities. Coincidentally, there was a general distinction between the character of the operators of the individual local LIS and RCS stations that repeated programming of these two networks, with local stations rebroadcasting the first VB network generally identifying as LIS stations operated by public entities, and local stations rebroadcasting the second VB network generally identifying as RCS stations most-often operated by commercial entities. This tendency made the separation of the networks a natural decision once the robustness of the programming output and the continent-wide penetration of the networks' wireless reception and coverage became adequate.

The split of the two networks was accomplished by way of differentiating the network affiliation of the large regional ULW stations serving programming to the smaller local LIS and RCS stations. Most of the largest and oldest ULW stations operating the first VB network and carrying generally public service programming were rebranded to the TI network and were transitioned to operation on a purely non-profit basis if they were not already operated this way, connected to a network based out of Voston, Illuminatia's capital. Conversely, the remaining stations operating the second VB network and carrying programming that trended toward the mainstream, popular, and cultural fare maintained the VB branding and transitioned to commercial operation, connected to a network headquartered in Adamopolis, Illuminatia's largest city and commercial center.

This partition of broadcast networks was capable of being organized as efficiently as it was thanks to the centralized nature of the original public-private partnership that was granted access to develop a broadcast infrastructure by the Illuminatian government.

The legacy of the partition of VB survives with the TI network and the VB network subsequently engineering their own divisions into separate networks under each parent network as program output and audience numbers justified these transitions.

TI has maintained its public-service mission and the non-profit operation of its stations, with one network providing news and public information, a second network oriented toward educational programming, a third network catering to cultural literacy and the traditional performing arts, and plans for a fourth network focusing on popular musical forms, a fifth network focused on emerging undercurrents in the arts, and concepts of a sixth network dedicated to documentaries, poetry and literature.

Meanwhile VB has survived as a highly-competitive commercial operation with one network providing mainstream full-service pop-culture oriented programming, a second network focusing on non-mainstream cultural assets as well as sports, a third network broadcasting primarily news and conversation programming, and a proposed fourth network that may split off all sports programming onto a dedicated network.

While VB developed itself as an independent commercial enterprise, competing commercial networks gained footholds, including GWB based in Overture and ABN based in Rhapsody.