Okay, i don't know why but i had a dream of a tv channel that doesn't exist with people i don't know. However, a couple of minutes later, i ran across a certain TV website. After revisiting old times and good memories, i read how everyone complained of how it is now. This how ever sparked an idea.
All i ask of you guys is to help me out a bit.
what do i have to do to develope and actually have a tv channel ?
Would anyone please give me something to start with ?
i searched around but i couldn't find anything. I have a friend who is in the Movie business but i would ilke to approach him in a way he would take my idea seriously, and not as a "oh , hes just messing around."
So if you have any help/advice/tips please leave them here.
Yes, I do. Honest to say it isn't a whole lot but I can get more with time. How much money is usually needed for this ?
Are you asking how much it costs to produce a TV show?
Or how much it costs to get the rights to TV shows and movies you want to exhibit?
Or, how much it costs to broadcast that signal, including licensing and facilities? Those broadcast towers ain't built out of lego bricks.
>>3
Most channels are owned by very large multimedia companies (Turner Broadcasting, for example, is the parent company of CNN, TNT, and Cartoon Network), which are in turn often owned by even larger corporations (Turner is part of Time Warner). There are some smaller and more independent networks, too, but these have limited distribution because infrastructure for real broadcast TV is phenomenally expensive.
The easiest thing to do would probably be to purchase an existing network. There are some tongue-in-cheek, but accurate, descriptions of the legal mechanisms required to do this online here: http://www.ehow.com/how_110767_acquire-television-network.html. But you can't afford it. To give some examples, half of Comedy Central was purchased back in the 1990s for $1.3 billion dollars. GE bought NBC a couple of years ago for $6.5 billion.
You can probably get a small cable or satellite network for $100 million or less, but you'd need significant investors to buy a big channel.
You almost certainly don't have the connections you would need to do something on that scale. I mean you no offense, but unless you're already on the board of a Fortune 500 company, with a large network of fellow-multimillionaire friends who already work in the media, you don't.
You're better off making friends with creative or programming directors of existing channels and pitching your new-programming ideas to them. A great way to do that is to get a job in television production and work your way up for 15 or 20 years.
Good luck!
Well, if you'll notice, old VCRs can broadcast a signal on VHF channel 3 or 4. Plug this through a big amplifier and the proper antenna, and you've got a TV station. Please note that this is a bad idea.
There used to be this little UHF station in my area that broadcast weird local religious shows, ads that were pretty much nothing more than business cards, and weird old movies that were probably public domain by neglect. This kind of station doesn't cost too much to run or set up (relatively speaking).
According to the FCC, a permit to build a new UHF station runs at $1,750. This would take a long time to go through and you would have to prove that you're actually planning on builidng something or have the resources to do so. "A dream" doesn't count. Annual regulatory fees run between $1,750 - $19,000+ depending on how big of a market you serve. Your license is up for review at periodic intervals and you would have to answer to the FCC regarding every single complaint they received regarding your station, regardless of the mental illness of those filing said complaints. That's just the start of the paperwork/fees.
Unfortunately, UHF is a wasteland. No one watches it. No matter who you are, your programming can't compete with network or cable programming. Though there are regulations that require cable companies to carry channels of local origin, they can usually legally exempt themelves from doing so with a few forms filed and a few lawyers hired. All of these are cheaper solutions to carrying local content and ensure that there are 1,900 hours of infomercials delivered by cable each and every day.
You'd be better off starting a production company and attempting to sell a pilot and grow from there. Piggyback on a real network if you want to be seen.
Actually, there's a lot going on in UHF channels. A lot of Spanish-language programming, religion, and home shopping. I think there's even some dial-up music video request lines still going on. There used to be a UHF Playboy Channel in my city, scrambled of course, but weakly so.