Believe it or not there were at least two other aborted attempts to create a Paramount TV network in the US, one in the late 1940s/early 1950s, and the more well known attempt (due to its connections with Star Trek: The Motion Picture) in the late 1970s which never got off the ground.
Doesn't the story go that Paramount were involved with the Dumont Network in the 40s, and the company that eventually controlled the Dumont affiliates after its demise was bought by Murdoch and was used as the framework to help launch Fox?
That kind of begs the question about how the FOX network came to be in the 80s. I'm guessing it was Murdoch wanting a channel rather than the FCC.
Fox bought the the stations after Murdoch invested in the company. Then they decided to create a network to supply them. The FCC just licenses and regulates, it doesn't 'want' or ask for a new network or station.
However where Fox were clever is that they did the bare minimum amount of programminh that they needed to to be licensed as a network, so didn't push themselves too much. What made it the eventual big forth network was a few break through shows, in particular The Simpsons, and then the obtaining of NFL rights, which caused a lot of stations to switch affiliation to Fox
Not surprising since this is based off France Info's. It might have taken a long time to do this corporate rebranding work.
I wonder how people are reacting to this new look though.
And the France TV channel's logos look like Spain's Punt Dos.
Last edited by Hazimworks on 30 January 2018 3:56pm - 2 times in total
Trouble brewing in Switzerland - a referendum next month will decide whether the SBC loses all of its public funding and becomes totally commercialized.
A poll found the Leave side has 40% support in the all-or-nothing vote, which isn't supported by the government and was instigated by far-right MPs. (Sound familiar?) The silly part is that, in a very rich country, the SBC gets one of the world's highest licence fees. A sudden change would decimate it.... but still, it could never be worse than TVNZ, ba-dum-ch
