SSN/CAtv

SSN/CAtv is a Spectrum network that provides news, political analysis, commentary programs, news magazines, and talk shows. It was founded in 2458 from a merger between the former news channels Sheridan Special News Television (SSNtv) and Communication Alliance (CA), and was the first news network to broadcast to every United Empire of Earth (UEE) planetary system. It maintains hundreds of affiliates and satellite offices and broadcasts primarily out of Terra in the Terra system.

History

SSNtv was the first network originating from Earth to broadcast to Mars, and it was the dominant Human news network until the discovery of the Croshaw system in 2271. As Human territory expanded to other planetary systems, SSNtv's reach narrowed because of the limitations of communication technology, and content delivery delays of several days to several weeks were common between systems. Rival network CA was established on Reisse in 2398 to close this gap. Thanks to the Rhetor system's communications network, CA's reach expanded more quickly than SSNtv's, and SSNtv began to struggle. In 2458, SSNtv accepted a merger proposal from CA and SSN/CAtv was founded.

The network initially transmitted a continuous stream of news hosted by a rotating cast of anchors, and gradually increased its focus on politics, purchasing Showdown! in 2522 as its keystone debate program. This shift brought high profits, enabling the network to open a new headquarters on Cestulus in 2525. In 2529, SSN/CAtv provided on-the-ground coverage of the Unified Currency Riot in Jata, Cestulus, including its suppression by the United Planets of Earth (UPE) military. After first contact with the Xi'an in 2530 and the discovery of the Tevarin in 2541, the network's content began to lean pro-war and anti-alien.

Upon the ascension of Ivar Messer I to the office of Prime Citizen in 2546, at the start of the Messer Era, SSN/CAtv's content took a hard pro-government turn. The host and crew of Showdown! were fired and replaced after they aired a special episode urging the public to act against Messer's consolidation of power. Deacon Messer became one of the network's principal shareholders in 2601, after which SSN/CAtv became one of the cornerstones of the UEE propaganda machine.

In 2630, SSN/CAtv relocated to an expansive headquarters on Terra. The network slowly began to allow some UEE-critical content to air while maintaining a pro-Messer stance across most of its programming. It played a pivotal role in discrediting Terran Senator Assan Kieren during his call for Terran sovereignty in 2638, yet it also allowed its pundit and debate programs to feature anti-military and pro-secession guests.

During the power struggle between Astrid Messer and Samuel Messer, reporters on several shows harshly criticized the Messers for their infighting. In 2699, Astrid Messer retaliated by conducting mass arrests and censoring more than half of the network's programming into cancellation. Samuel Messer rescinded the mass censorship upon taking office in 2701, but ordered that all content aired on the network thereafter had to be approved by the Imperator's office. Those imprisoned by Astrid Messer were not pardoned and served out the remainder of their sentences.

Role in the deposition of the Messer regime

Anonymous SSN/CAtv insiders began organizing with anti-Messer activists as early as 2702. They aided the resistance in two ways: they allowed the rebels to pass encrypted messages through the network's communication arrays, and they fed them information uncensored by the Messer government. One such piece of information was footage from the Massacre of Garron II. On 11 April 2792, technicians responsible for the network feed allowed footage of the massacre, along with a message from the resistance group Tide, to interrupt a broadcast of SSN/CAtv Nightly News. This broadcast was the inciting incident of the revolution that eventually deposed the Messer regime.

Programs

SSN/CAtv hosts a wide variety of news and news-related content, and it maintains satellite offices on most recognized planets in the UEE.

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