Show Networks (Makko Oko)
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| Public broadcaster | |
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | November 16, 2004 |
| Founders | Rodney Show Harold Zenonis |
Area served |  Makko Oko |
Key people | Rodney Show CEO |
| Services | Television, Online |
| Website | show.mk |
Show Networks, known as Show, is one of the main premium pay television networks in the Empire Of Makko Oko. Show was founded on November 16th, 2004, by Rodney Show, a former MKBO executive and TV show producer in order to expand the offerings of unique, exclusively curated TV shows and movies within the nation. Show's audience as of 2022 is over 650M people, with an average of 300,000 viewers a week for Show's unique TV shows and series alone.
Show's programming consists of movies, both made-for-TV and theatrically released, in addition to boxing and MMA matches, and the arts, including dramas and televised concerts. Show is the only network in Makko Oko to broadcast MMA matches, giving them a unique market.
History
Before Show
Rodney Show was the Chief Programming Officer (CPO) of the Makko Oko Box Office from 2001 to 2003, before then being Executive Producer of multiple MKBO original TV shows for 7 years. Rodney quit his comfortable CPO position in 2003 due to "disagreements over policies and ethics on MKBO programming", said a spokesperson at the time. Rodney then went on to work for MNSN as their Vice President Of Programming & Events, which lasted until March of 2004 when he was terminated for unknown reasons.
Formation Of Show Networks
After Rodney's firing, he thought to start his own TV network, but MKBO caught wind of this and filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction due to "anti-competitiveness" and "theft of trade secrets". The court threw out the case after months of legal debate, and Rodney, more powerful than ever, called up a friend of his, President Harold Zenonis, to pitch the idea to him.
According to President Zenonis, "Harold had an idea for a TV network, one that could be exclusive like a country club, and bring about the first fighting network. [...] He pitched the name "Show" and I immediately fell in love. [...] I took up the idea and am helping him as a friend.". The idea came to fruition and the idea of Show was born.
Show Networks was officially formed on November 16th, 2004, after months of securing licensing deals and going into personal debt, including getting another mortgage on their home. The network didn't officially begin broadcasting until January of 2005, however on some local cable providers. Show's first slogan was "The ultimate fighting SHOW", and exclusively broadcasted fighting events 24/7/365.
Introduction Of PPV & Expansion Into Commentary
In May of 2005, Show announced the "Watch-To-Bet" feature, which encouraged people to watch the fights live as opposed to on-demand. The feature allowed people to place live bets on fights directly through Show Networks, and if they won, Show would take 15% of the earnings, otherwise, they got it all. This generated a lot of profit for the network, and garnered a lot of subscribers. Profits were at $275M by the beginning of 2006 and viewership increased 470% month-over-month.
Show was able to do this through agreements with the carriers of the channel, and in June of 2007, Vollent announced that they had signed a deal to carry Show. At the same time in July of 2007, live commentary sessions were introduced to the channel for breaks in-between fights and rounds. That had been very successful and ultimately led to a billion slotto's worth of profit by 2009.
Expansion Into Movies & TV
On July 3rd, 2011, Rodney Show announced that Show Networks would be expanding to "more than just a fight club" and introducing movies and original TV series. This didn't sit well for some, but ultimately upon the revamp of Show's operations completing on October 17th, 2011, viewership stayed relatively high. In 2013, Show Networks made under a billion slotto's of profit for the first time since 2008, and Rodney knew that he had to fix it, so on February 11th, 2013, he announced the introduction of a brand new channel named ShowSTARZ, which is a channel dedicated to fights and action-related content.
The channel was relatively successful, bringing the company back up to over a billion slotto's by 2014.
The Failure Of FamilyShow
On April 13th, 2015, Lori Whatley, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Show Networks at the time, announced that Show would be introducing a new channel near the end of the year or in 2016 named FamilyShow, meant to cater towards families and other audiences that Show hadn't been targeting at the time. After a lot of delays and issues with licensing, the channel launched on August 24th, 2016, with an audience of about 20,000 people.
Show Networks faced a lawsuit by MKBO over the launching of the channel, claiming "stolen content, stolen idea", with the courts throwing out the case entirely and letting the channel continue. Later on September 7th, 2016, FamilyShow accidentally broadcasted a bloody MMA event from ShowSTARZ for about 10 minutes. It affected a lot of people, and Show Networks launched an investigation into the incident, as did the National Broadcasting Authority (NBA). It was found that some employees tampered with the video streams to intentionally cause the incident.
The employees were terminated and charged by the DOJ for "tampering with communications equipment". A mass protest and walkout was planned by the majority of Show employees and staff, including executives, with the majority of them being male. The protest called for the "end of the FamilyShow channel" and the "termination of Lori Whatley". Analysts say that the masculine environment is what led to the protests, and they didn't like a woman working over them, pitching ideas.
The protest took place on October 3rd, 2016, and the entire Show channel went down, including ShowSTARZ after the end of the airing boxing match. The CEO quickly caved in after being pressured by the NBA and threatened with a broadcast revocation, and the channel was ultimately shutdown officially on October 4th, 2016. It was the shortest lived TV channel in Makko Okoan history, only garnering a maximum of 40-50 thousand people. Some people believed that it was for the best, believing that it'd never be able to compete with MKBO's option, MKBO Family.
After that day, Show Networks became the "exclusive young and adult movie and TV show network" according to the new slogan.
Health During The Civil Transition War
Unlike many companies right before and during the war, Show Networks never experienced significant financial downturn. Whenever the war began, however, a majority of the employees were poached by the military for the draft, and many of them died. This led to decreased operation stability and the temporary blackout of ShowSTARZ from 7:00 PM to 10:00 AM every day, until the end of the war when employees begun being hired once again to replace the fallen.
The company ended up increasing the percentage taken from bets from 15% to 20% on a floating case-by-case basis. Not nearly as much betting occured during the war however, so it didn't help much.
Slogan
Services
Television
Show Networks provides multiple channels in both Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (HD), to TV providers within the nation. The channels offered depend on the specific provider and the agreements made with Show, but most of the time, all of the channels are provided. Due to them being premium channels, most of the time you have to buy them separate from your TV package, but in the most expensive TV packages, they tend to come included.
| Channel | Description and programming |
|---|---|
Show |
The flagship channel; Show airs blockbuster feature films, Show original series and made-for-cable movies, comedy and occasional concert specials, and documentaries. The channel airs everything in blocks, except for fighting events, because those are only aired on the ShowSTARZ sister channel. |
 ShowSTARZ |
Launched on February 11th, 2013, ShowSTARZ is a Show channel that airs all the boxing, MMA and other fighting events. Before the inception of the channel, Show aired everything on the flagship channel. After 9:00 PM every day, the channel airs action and fighting movies for late-night watching. |
 ShowCreativity |
Launched on October 16th, 2010, ShowCreativity is a Show channel that airs everything artistic, including concerts and in some cases, dramas. While the flagship channel airs the arts, they mainly air the big content and events, the major ones, meanwhile ShowCreativity airs some of the lesser, not as big content. The channel was launched as part of a cultural and expressional expansion of content, from just fighting to more than that. |
Online
Former Services
Former Channels
| Channel | Description and programming |
|---|---|
 FamilyShow |
Launched originally on August 24th, 2016, FamilyShow was the Show channel that aired only up to PG-14 content, and usually original Show programs weren't included. The channel was discontinued on October 4th, 2016 after a mass walkout and protest by Show Networks employees over the introduction of the channel led to the halting of company operations. It's the shortest lived TV channel in Makko Okoan history. |
Programming
Original Show Productions
| Title | Genre | Content Type | Premiere | Series Finale/Final Season | Title Production Date | Runtime | Airing Status | Title Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hell's Wrath Upon Oko | Horror | Movie | June 17th, 2023 | Not Applicable | November 7, 2022 | 150 min. | Not Airing, In Production | Currently In Pre-Production |
