JC Eldridge

  

JC Eldridge

Traded as	JCE (EvSE)
Predecessors	Eldridge Broadcasting Corp. John Connelly Television Network, Inc.
Founded	July 1, 1998 (1998-07-01) in Hartleyville, New Lothian
Founder	Bob Eldridge Sr., John D. Connelly
Headquarters	Eldridge-Connelly Media Center, Hartleyville, New Lothian, Kalșeri
Area served	Kalșeri
Key people	Bob Eldridge Jr. and Russ Connelly (CEOs) Ana María Turșagi (CFO)
Products	Television Radio
Owner	Eldridge family (45%) Connelly family (45%) Public float (10%)
Website	jceldridge.kl

JC Eldridge is a Kalșerian television network based in Hartleyville, New Lothian. It is the second-largest private broadcaster in the country, after the KBC, and that operates eighteen channels in Kalșeri, six of which available for free.

Many of its facilities are located at the Eldridge-Connelly Media Center in Hartleyville. Other facilities include the Geeseekulkoo and Stevesland JCE Studios.

JC Eldridge was founded in 1998, following the merger of Hartleyville-based Eldridge Broadcasting and JCTN, which retained their brandings after the merger and constitute the company's flagship channels. The company focuses on thematic entertainment; most of its content imported from abroad, with the exception of Eldridge Broadcasting, which almost exclusively broadcasts content made in Kalșeri.

Due to its high viewing figures, JC Eldridge is commonly grouped into the national "Gang of Five" (the others being KalCom, KBC, Ronhem TV and be5). Of the five, JC Eldridge has the highest number of subscription-based channels.

History

Prior to the merger

JCTN (acronym for John Connelly Television Network) was founded in 1972 by John D. Connelly. JCTN focused on entertainment by airing foreign shows and cartoons, and producing game shows. Initially broadcasting in New Lothian, JCTN was given the license to broadcast nationally in 1974, becoming the third operator to do so, after the RNK (now KalCom) and the KBC.

Bob Eldridge served as Technical Director of JCTN from 1974 to 1979, when he was hired by the KBC. He served in the KBC board of directors from 1984 to 1987, when he quit over internal disagreements. He subsequently founded Eldridge Broadcasting, and participated in the bidding process for the fifth national channel, but lost to Saruvun Tórgisi's be5.

Eldridge and Reform Party founder M. Hugh Baetzing lobbied the Government to open a bidding process for the sixth national channel, which Eldridge won in 1993. In the same year, Eldridge and Connelly entered an informal agreement, wherein JCTN and Eldridge Broadcasting would form a single company, while keeping their own identities, and complement each other in terms of content: JCTN maintained its programming focusing on entertainment, and Eldridge aired news segments, political talk shows and experimental programs.

The Fiscal Court initially blocked the process over the possibility for the new company to form a media monopoly, but the injunction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1996, after a lengthy legal dispute. The merger was finalized on July 1, 1998.

2000s-present

Soon after the merger, Eldridge Broadcasting began to air political talk shows, the first of which was No Nonsense with M. Hugh Baetzing (1999–2013), hosted by M. Hugh Baetzing. Sensationalistic programs, such as No Holds Barred with Bill Haven, were also greenlit.

Monica Voltolini, who had protested the merger, left JC Eldridge and founded NewTime Communications.

JC Eldridge expanded its network by opening ten thematic channels 2005 to 2012: Justunes, Kalassix, XLNSports, Sploit, Josie, freightv, W&L, Chukl and Kichin. In 2013, the company acquired the TV operations of rock music magazine The Stuffer.

In 2018, JC Eldridge launched icJCE, a streaming service that offers all content broadcast on JC Eldridge channels. To promote the service, some programs produced by the company began to publish some behind-the-scenes content exclusively on the platform.

Operations

With the exception of Mixx, which is operated as a joint venture with Tokaido Media, all channels are owned and operated by JC Eldridge.

Free-to-air

Logo	Channel name	Date of launch	Theme
	JCTN	February 1, 1972	General entertainment
	Eldridge Broadcasting	March 17, 1987	Generalist, in Kalhan
	JCTN Kalhan	March 15, 1979	General entertainment
	EB Kalhan	January 31, 1998	Generalist, in Kalhan
	JCTN Kids	June 1, 1987	Children's programming
	Magenta TV	January 1, 2006	Female-oriented

Subscription-based channels

All subscription-based channels are handled through JC Eldridge Thematic Networks.

Logo	Channel name	Date of launch	Theme
	Quizhouse		Quiz shows
	Justunes	February 15, 2005	Music
	Kalassix	September 1, 2006	Films and series made in Kalșeri
	XLNSports	January 1, 2007	Sports (lacrosse, rugby, gridiron football, volleyball and others)
	Sploit	May 27, 2008	Kalsploitation films
	Josie	January 1, 2009	Youth-oriented
	frightv	December 1, 2009	Thriller and horror
	W&L	June 30, 2010	Educational
	Chukl	August 11, 2011	Comedy
	Kichin	March 1, 2012	Kitchen programs
	Stuff TV	April 18, 2013	Music programming, focusing on rock
	Mixx		Media from East Asian countries

Controversies

JC Eldridge has been criticized for allegedly cutting some parts and skipping episodes of foreign programming on its channels without specifying the reason behind each cut. The company has responded that the programs are presented as they were originally broadcast, and that the company only censors content that violates Kalșerian law.

The Kalhan-language services offered by JC Eldridge have been criticized by Kalhan-language media due to their lack of content compared to their English-language counterparts, and a number of translation errors in Kalhan-language closed captions have been documented. Although JC Eldridge ascribes the perceived deficiency to technical difficulties and staff shortages, co-founder Bob Eldridge aired his opposition to Kalșeri's official policy of bilingualism several times, including one instance in which he used strong language during a phone call leaked by The Lens, sparking a scandal.

Eldridge Broadcasting has been accused of enabling hate speech through its political talk shows, most prominently No Nonsense with M. Hugh Baetzing. Eldridge Broadcasting has also been accused of airing politically-biased content in favor of Baetzing's Reform Party throughout campaign periods, and in favor of Donald Trump during his presidency, and has been labeled as "trash TV" due to its opinionated talk shows and excessive use of sensationalism and shocking content in its programs, most often in No Holds Barred. A group of Kalșerian directors headed by Don Kriss denounced Bob Eldridge as the "Grim Reaper of Kalșerian intelligence" in an open letter.

JC Eldridge was fined ħ300,000 in 2005 for airing five-minute commercial blocks for every thirty minutes of content within the same program, far above the maximum 90 seconds allowed by the Advertisement in Television Act 1997.