One thing that disadvantages The CW is the fact that it does not offer national news and sports to its affiliates. That being said, The CW does allow its affiliates to broadcast local or regional news and a lot of the channels or stations choose to use the Orlando show, The Daily Buzz, which has become increasingly popular over the last few years.

As a company that specializes in media, The CW crew knew that they needed to explore every avenue possible in order to make their network a success. This meant looking at things such as creating websites to generate interest online. In 2006, they developed www.cwtv.com, something which would link straight to their CW4Kids and of course, links to all their latest shows and upcoming schedule.

This was not only important in an effort to gain more viewers, but it also ensured that their brand image was stamped every where possible. The more people that visit the site, the more people are likely to watch the show, which was obviously a good way of thinking.

One thing that The CW does need to improve on is its rankings in the Nielsen ratings. Since its launched, it has struggled to even stay on par with any of the leading networks and continues to do so to this day. Some critics suggest that if the network does not see an upward turn in terms of popularity in the coming years or even months, then it may be that both CBS and Warner Brothers will cut their losses and cease the operation.

That leaves Nat Geo with the Middle East. The plan here was to create an Arab version of the channel. After some talks and collaboration with local networks, eventually the channel was re-branded specifically for the Middle East as National Geographic Abu Dhabi and was aired on a free to air basis by Nilesat. Like most of the national channels, it is owned by a few parties, which include the National Geographic Society/Fox International Channels & Abu Dhabi Media Company.

Times have changed for television channels now and if they do not keep up with the times, then they run the risk of losing out to a competitor. For Nat Geo it was a case of getting their channels HD ready as soon as possible. Instead of replacing existing channels and run the risk of losing viewers that did not have HD, a new channel was formed; National Geographic Channel HD.

This channel was launched in the United States in January 2006 and provided viewers with the ultimate viewing experience. Alongside some of the top cable providers, the HD version of the channel in the States was also available on the likes of DirecTV and Dish Network.

Canada was next, where the official HD channel was eventually aired in December, 2006. Shaw Direct on channel 276 and Bell TV on channel 828 made this happen, as they were the two biggest satellite providers for the country at the time. Along side this a lot of viewers using digital cable providers were also able to view the channel.

Nat Geo set to work converting all their other channels to HD, including Australia, which was eventually converted on the Foxtel HD+ Service in July 2008.

The future is here and Nat Geo is determined to keep up with it. By providing HD and non-HD channels, they are placing themselves competitively in the market and ensuring that they do not lose their current database of viewers.

A crucial point for HBO was the period of 1975-1991. This is when national expansion was needed, but the way to get it was not known. “Thrilla in Manila”, one of the most legendry boxing matches of all time was shown. It was the punch up between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and it was something that was going to change the future for HBO.

The first nine years that HBO broadcasted, they were limited on hours. They chose to run for just 9 hours, from 3pm-12 midnight and it seemed to work well in the beginning. Eventually it came to 1981 and the channel realized that they needed to expand, or be passed in the ratings by a competitor. This meant that they were now offering 24 hour a day broadcasting, so viewers had something to watch every minute of the day.

The Terry Fox Story was a big point in the development also. 1983 was when HBO had their first original movie and this was a step in a new direction for HBO.

Over the years HBO has been known for offering some of the highest quality programs on television. The high quality that they pride themselves with is exactly what has got them many Emmy awards, not to mention a huge customer base. The subscription model that is used by HBO means that they do not need to have commercials like many other channels, which is another unique selling point for consumers/viewers.

Whilst is seems like HBO have got the balance just right for now, this might not be the case in a few years. They are likely to continue the development of their services over time to ensure that they keep the position of the number one paid service in the United States.

1996 was another important year for the Cartoon Network, when the likes of Turner merged with Time Warner. This meant that Turner did not just have access to all the biggest and best cartoons, but they owned them alongside Time Warner, setting Cartoon Network up to be even bigger and even better.

Times change with any business or organization and most recently on May 29th, 2010, Cartoon Network released their new logo. The old one had been used since 2004, so it was certainly time for a fresh image. The fresh image was accompanied by a new slogan which was bold and straight to the point for all viewers “This is Cartoon Network!”.

There had been a lot of shuffling around with cartoons and programs on the network. Rescue Heroes was to be the first show ever aired on the new network, whilst some of the programs now had the incorporation of some 2D characters to create that much better image. It was time for a change and Cartoon Network started to palm off some of the smaller and not so popular shows to their sister channel, Boomerang.

Something called Noods was introduced in February 2010. They were formed by actual objects, which included the likes of paint, grass, and confetti. Logos were also coming thick and fast at this point with one being released in March 2010. The new logo was designed and incorporated to go along with their “Move It Movement” tour which was happening throughout the year.

Cartoon Network has been a successful channel since 1992 and the future for the channel does look extremely stable. By keeping up with current and new trends they are able to place themselves in the running for being the most popular kids channel on American TV.

What started as a small idea has now developed into something of a worldwide phenomenon. Disney now supports a collective group of nearly 100 channels that are aired on a worldwide basis. The channels started off as kids channels, but a lot of the channels are simply family orientated. Including all of the feeds that are currently linked to Disney, they are now in 160 countries and produce screenings in over 30 different languages, catering for almost everyone.

Disney have always been a firm believer that spreading themselves too thin would lead to their collapse, so they do focus on a range of branded channels. These include the likes of Disney Channel, Disney XD, Playhouse Disney, Disney Cinemagic, Hungama, Jetix and Radio Disney. Launched back in 206, Disney Channel has become popular with kids and in some cases, young adults as well.

2010 saw the dominance of Disney continue, when the most recent ratings were released. The only channel that surpasses Disney for amount of viewers during primetime viewing is the USA network. This essentially equates to around 2,000,000 viewers of Disney Channel every single night.

Sonny With A Chance and Good Luck Charlie are part of most child’s Sunday, as they sit down to a small setting at the TV. This is the most popular night of the week, with Disney Channel again sitting in second, but this time the top spot goes to ESPN naturally.

As far as their target audience goes, it is quite simple, Disney Channel aim to target kids of all ages and from all types of demographical areas. Of course, their focus is on the smaller children, with the ages between 6-12 being their main focus during primetime, then 9-15 in the evening. That being said, there is also a block that is dedicated to children that are 2-5 called the Playhouse Disney programming block.

According to reports it was David Sarnoff who stole many ideas from competitors. When faced in court, it was RCA who backed Sarnoff and their force and size meant that competitors or people battling against them had nothing short of no chance.

FCC standards started to dictate certain things from broadcasters. The reality was that RCA was ahead of the times and they were ready to start commercial telecasting right away. Eventually the experimental period for TV ended and on July 1, 1941, full scale broadcasting was put into place, with channels commercializing the opportunity where ever possible.

It was the New York sector of the NBC which received the first commercial license. The station W2XBS, was quickly changed to WNBT and is now known as WNBC-TV. This led to the first ever commercial on TV, which was eventually in the day time broadcast and was for Bulova Watches. What better place to have the first every advertisement, right before a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball telecast which was going to be watched by a vast amount of people!

In the early years it seemed that a lot of the broadcasting and creative team did not really know what they were doing. This was understandable to be honest, as this was the first time anything like this had been put into place.

The NBC team put the newly labeled WNBT in a test pattern format, in the shape of a clock. This clock had functioning hands and was therefore extremely eye catching. The Bulova logo was assigned to the clock with the phrase “Bulova Watch Time”.

Sterling Manhattan Cable at the time was a possible threat. This was soon dealt with, as they only had a 20,000 customer base around the Manhattan area. Time Life, Inc. played slightly dirty by gaining control of 80 percent of the business and eventually shut the whole operation down in Manhattan. Still seeing some potential, Time Life, changed the name to Manhattan Cable Television and kept the dream alive by taking over HBO back in 1973.

It was not long before changes started to take place. The likes of Dolan were certainly not going to last long if they were not doing their job properly, and that was exactly the case. Eventually, Dolan’s time was up as President and Chief Executive Officer and he was replaced by Gerald Levin.

With the new structure in place and Time Life, Inc. now in full control after the acquisition of the pay per view service, things were starting to move quickly. It was not long before HBO was snowballing and becoming extremely popular. There was one problem that HBO simply could not get round in the early years, and that was retaining consumers.

What HBO were finding was that their consumers would trial the service and actually really like it. The problem is, after a few days or maybe a few weeks, people were finding they had watched everything and that the channel was boring and a waste of money. The service eventually came to Lawrence, Massachusetts, but it was quickly realized that something needed to change to allow HBO to grow as it had done in the past.

One thing that MSNBC proved they liked was the Fox News, and how they allowed hosts to get interactive and offer their views. For this reason, they replicated this scenario and allowed them to get involved with discussions. There was a small problem with this though. A lot of people found that controversial topics were certainly not things that uneducated hosts should be expressing opinions on. This led to a lot of people accusing both MSNBC and even Fox News of being extremely biased.

NBC Universal were keen to keep and even grow their share in the channel as it had a direct link to everything they were doing. In 2005, they took over 32% of Microsoft’s 50% share, making themselves the majority share holder. That being said, NBC and Microsoft still had an even share of the website Msnbc.com, although the future of that was also doubted. Two years after, NBC would have the option to purchase the remaining 18% stake that Microsoft still held in the project.

2008 came and went and left MSNBC with many changes. For example, a political analyst was hired to ensure that nothing said was biased and also to express an opinion. Alongside this, there were big movements in political shows. A new show called The Rachel Maddow Show was hosted by Rachel Maddow and became extremely popular, very quickly. The new program was an instant success and it proved to be a bold but correct move for MSNBC who were no longer underperforming in comparison to the likes of CNN’s Larry King Live.

Over the last couple of years, shows such as the one mentioned above have continued to prosper. They have grown in such a way that in primetime ratings in 2010, MSNBC scored well ahead of CNN for overall rankings and markings. This was extremely promising for MSNBC as it set them up for a much stronger future than they originally anticipated.

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The original launch gave kids 24 hours of broadcasting, 7 days a week. The strength and growth of the channel has meant that it has managed to continue this volume of broadcasting and its popularity simply continues to grow.

The first part of the Cartoon Network branding strategy was the legendry checkerboard theme, which was surrounded by bumpers. This was something that was easy to remember and some of the characters shown during broadcasts were incorporated into this logo. This logo certainly lasted the test of time, with it being replaced only on June 12, 1998, when a new theme and logo was introduced.

Like a lot of other cartoon channels, the Cartoon Network chose to air their cartoons for 30 minutes or for an hour in the minority of cases. Each episode was conveniently separated by the required character or studio, for example The Tom and Jerry Show presented the classic cat-and-mouse team. In the early days, the High Noon Toons was something that a lot of kids were introduced in, thanks to it being hosted by Cowboy Hand Puppets.

Of course, over time, a lot of the cartoons became outdated and new ones needed to replace them. There are legendry cartoons that were never replaced and the likes of Tom and Jerry is still being aired as we speak.

The Network really did need to move their operation forward and did so within a year of their launch. They managed to create their own original show in the form of The Moxy Show in 1993. Everything then came in quick succession, with the likes of the new subsidiary, Cartoon Network Studios, being founded. This eventually led to the The What-A-Cartoon! Show being created an broadcasted regularly.

This brings use on to more recent times of 2003-2006. Fox Sports decided that instead of using team names or abbreviations, they would use the team logos. After all, anyone watching is likely to support one of the teams playing, or be an avid sports fan, in which case they would be able to link the logo to the team anyway.

The FoxBox was a weird creation at this point. It would start as a normal black rectangle but alternate between different things, such as black parallelograms. In the end a “Home Run” feature would pop up to emphasize that exact achievement, with the team name also in the picture.

This brings us up to date with more current events, from 2006-2010. The banner was to be upgraded once more. Fox Sports decided that all viewers should be able to see the score at any one time. For this reason they put the fixture and score as a permanent toolbar on the right hand side, which seemed to work well for many viewers.

Fox Sports have and will continue to grow as fast as they can. Take 2004 for instance, when they introduced HDTV coverage. Thanks to 720p HDTV technology the games could be viewed in much better quality. In fact, this became so popular, that almost all the broadcasts on Fox Sports now use HDTV technology, offering viewers a much better viewing experience.

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