THE IDEA Welcome friends to the Kickstarter page for ONtv. Despite repeated claims for its demise TV has not, in fact, died. Traditional broadcast TV has suffered attacks from everything from cable to satellite and now the Internet. Despite this in 2008 regular, antenna television sales rose 40% while satellite and cable only rose 1%. Audiences originally turned away from over-the-air broadcasts for the variety and specialization of cable and satellite. With the advent of digital broadcasting – and digital subchannels – traditional over the air broadcasting can now provide the level of service, diversity and specialization that at one time was reserved for cable and satellite. And lets face it – 5 billion people own a TV. That’s more than the number that use mobile phones or computers. And 20% of Americans still get their television with over-the-air broadcasts. To meet the new demand of local channels needing to fill their subchannels with content has come a whole host of new broadcasters. Groups like The Cool TV and Fuse cater to the 18-34 year old crowd with pop culture and music video lineups. Others like MeTV, ThisTV, RTN and AntennaTV fill the gap with classic reruns using the back catalogues of their movie studio partners. Many of these digital subchannels are available for lease. By securing broadcasting partners in a few key markets via leased digital sub channels ONtv will begin to build its market and presence. ONtv will work in an open source model – be it through the creation of Open Source/Crowdsourced programming or by working with the fan community to create on-air logos, apps for the iPad, GoogleTV and Boxee or advertising material. ONtv programming will fall into two categories CLASSIC PROGRAMING and ORIGINAL CONTENT. BREAKDOWN Classic Programming – Programming to appeal to an aging audience who feels alienated from the usual 18-34 style programs. Original Programming – Programming geared towards the 18-55 audiences. This will happen via PARTNERED PROGRAMMING and ORIGINAL programming focused on comedy, news and information for the post-modern, wired world. CLASSIC PROGRAMMING PHASE 1: INITIAL PROGRAMMING It is with these channels that ONtv will compete. Instead of a movie studio partner ONtv will be pulling from the extensive public domain film and television properties at our disposal. Programming will run in blocks of similar content – such as the afternoon comedy block, the evening drama block and the late night film/program. In addition the week will be programmed thematically – sci-fi Saturdays, family Sundays and Mondays, Action Tuesdays, Women’s Wednesdays, Comedy Thursdays and Mystery/Thriller Fridays. Still to be decided is if we are going to be programming the whole day or just a 3 hour block similar to how the FOX Broadcasting Company works. ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING PHASE 2 In the early days of network TV three of the four big networks had backgrounds in radio and as a result had properties, stories and programming to pull from as the developed their programming. The fourth network – The DuMont Network – did not have a background and floundered and failed. Today’s TV network has to not only compete with other networks but also the Internet. As a result the post-modern broadcaster should consider the internet his or her radio: ONtv will seek out and find content from the web and function as a broadcast arm, helping these producers find a wider audience. ONtv will not get in the way of these producers posting their work on the net, selling or streaming their work. We will instead be a partner with them to help them – and ourselves – find the widest possible audience via broadcast, partnership, link exchange and mutual promotion. In this way we will encourage the creation and broadcast of viewer generated content, open source created programming and ground up programming. PHASE 3 Additional original content will eventually be produced in house. Inspired by internet TV station Revision 3 with their low-budget single camera and/or green screen shows ONtv will work to produce content in a similar way: low budget, dynamic and engaging. Original, In-house content will focus ENTERTAINEMNT, NEWS, ART and CULTURE and INFORMATION/IDEAS that change, challenge and effect our day-to-day lives. PROMOTION In the markets where digital sub channel leases have been achieved newspaper ads will be launched in local papers. Network ads will appear in, before and after all programming to encourage people to stick with our programming and to inform them of our full line-up. Viral videos will go online promoting the network and its programming as well. In addition all programming will be available on the website as well multiple video platforms online, each one containing ads directing viewers back towards our regular broadcast. Eventual additional expansions will be in the form of apps for GoogleTV, Boxee and the iPad. The amount I am trying to raise is based off of the rental of three digital subchannels, salary for two people, access to public domain film libraries, and office and facilities. AD DOLLARS Like most over the air television networks our money will be made via ad sales. As a small network operating in smaller markets and on digital sub channels we will not be able to reach the same advertisers that most other networks reach. Instead we will focus on smaller companies, websites and web hosting companies and such. Keywords: Broadcasting, Tv, network, software, opensource, cofunding, support, pledge, donation, open, programming, collaboration, source, funding, development