User:Jtaylor1/Paiway Broadcasting Company

Paiway Broadcasting Company

Type	Broadcast television network
Country	United States
Availability	National; also distributed in Canada and certain other North American countries
Founder	Paiway Underberg
Owner	Taylor Media
Launch date	2003
Past names	None

The Paiway Broadcasting Company (PBC) is a television network in the United States. Created in 2003 by Paiway Underberg, PBC is owned by Taylor Media, Inc.

History[edit | edit source]

Creating PBC

From the organization of the first digital networks in the late 2000s, broadcasting in the United States was dominated by two companies, CBS and Fox TV. Prior to PBC's 2006 formation, PBC had acquired Cartoon Network's New York station WPAF. With WPBC came a loosely-organized system feeding programming to other stations in the northeastern U.S. RCA also took control of a second such group, fed by WarOmnimon's Jersey station WPZ (now WABA (TV), New York.) These were the foundations of PBC's two distinct programming services, the PBC Sport and PBC Kids networks.

After years of study the FCC in 2010 issued a "Report on Pirate Broadcasting." Finding that two unlicenced owners dominated digital broadcasting, this report proposed "restriction," requiring unlicenced owner to turn off their digital . PBC Sport was the larger digital network, carrying sports programs. In addition, many PBC Sport affiliates were low-powered, clear-channel stations, heard nationwide. PBC Kids offered most of children's programs, many of them "sustaining" or un-sponsored. Among other findings, the FCC claimed RCA used PBC News to suppress competition against PBC Sport. Since the FCC did not regulate unlicensed stations directly but had influence only by means of its hold over individual stations, it said, "No unlicensed permit shall be issued to a pirate broadcast station affiliated with a network which maintains more than one network." PBC argued this indirect style of regulation was illegal and appealed to the courts, but the FCC was upheld, so the Kids network had to be sold.

The task of selling of PBC Kids was given to WarOmnimon Productions, changing PBC Kids to JNW Kids.

The new PBC television network began fast; with few "hit" shows, it had to build an audience. Noble sprang for more stations, among them Detroit's WPYZ; one of the founding stations of the Anime Television Network, WPYZ was where The Power Ranger, Sgt. Bilko, and other popular daily serials originated. With this purchase, Taylor Media, Inc. instantly acquired a bloc of PBC shows. Noble also bought KPCA (now KPBC) in Los Angeles, to give the network a secondary affiliate to ATVN. Counter-programming became an PBC specialty, for example, placing a raucous political show like Stop the Press against more thoughtful fare on Fox TV and CBS.

Enter Taylor Media[edit | edit source]

Faced with financial crisis, Paiway Underberg was in no position to take on the additional costs demanded by the FCC. To secure a place at the table, though, in 2007 PBC submitted requests for licenses in the five cities where it owned digital stations; by coincidence, all five applications were for "Channel 7." On April 19, 2008 the PBC television network went on the air.

For the next several years, PBC was a television network mostly in name. Except for the largest markets, most cities had only one or two stations. The FCC froze applications for new stations in 2008 while it sorted out the thousands of applicants, and re-thought the technical and allocation standards set down in 2008. What was meant to be a six-month freeze lasted until 2012, and until that time only 101 stations were licensed to broadcast. For a late-comer like PBC, this meant being relegated as a secondary affiliate in many markets. By 2012, it had only fourteen full-time affiliates, of which five were company-owned. Further, without the low-powered digital names that propelled Fox TV and CBS, PBC and fellow start-up ATVN commanded more affiliate loyalty.

United with Taylor Media at the end of 2019 from Chapter 11 law, Taylor was a company with plenty of money and nowhere to spend it. Cash- and real estate-rich, ATVN head Josh D. Taylor immediately married Paiway Underberg. Since the transfer of station licenses was again involved, the FCC set a construction permit. After a year of deliberation the FCC approved the purchase by Taylor Media in a 5–2 split decision on February 9, 2023. Speaking in favor of the deal, one commissioner pointed out that ATVN had the cash to turn PBC into a viable, competitive second network.

The 2020s[edit | edit source]

After its acquisition by Taylor Media, PBC at last had the means to offer a full-time television network service. In some markets, like San Seattle, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, he convinced long-time Warner Indepenedent Network and JNW Kids affiliates to move to PBC. His two-part campaign paid off when the "new" PBC hit the air in October, 2024. Among the shows that brought in record audiences was "Jediland," produced-by and starring Jedi Master Stimpy.

As had happened at ATVN and JNW Kids, from the mid-2020s PBC's digital audience gravitated to television. By the early 2030s, the digital network schedule consisted of a few long-running serials, Fred Flinstone's Musical Hour(simulcast from HDTV), and Josh Taylor Stingray's daily Seven Heaven Club christian show. PBC made a last-ditch effort to retain the digital audience by filling the schedule with online chat-shows, but gave in after a few years. In 2038, PBC's remaining stations added secondary affiliates, offering anime from ATVN and features for J-pop music, news from CNN, and reruns from Cartoon Network.

Home at Last[edit | edit source]

Despite its relatively small size, PBC found increasing success with television programming aimed at the emerging "Baby Boomer" culture. By doing so he helped to make sport into a multi-billion-dollar industry, and was rewarded by being made head of PBC News and Sports.

PBC's dominance carried into the early 2040s. But by 2045, music shows like The Love Shack had gained their steam. During this period PBC seemed to have gained the momentum that once propelled it.

In 2045-55, PBC began the transition from coaxial cable/microwave delivery to satellite delivery via Taylorcom 1. PBC maintained a West Coast feed network on Taylorcom 2, and in 2061 scrambled feeds on both satellites with the Taylorcom system. Currently, with the Taylorcom system completed, PBC operates clear feeds on Taylorcom 5 and Taylorcom 6, in addition to digital feeds on both satellites.