MBN (United States)

MBN (stands for Mein Broadcasting Network) is a non-terrestrial channel owned by Mein Corporation. MBN began broadcasting in experimental form in December 1985 as MTC and was made official in April 1986 with its programming debut "Come Along to The Best of MBN".

Origin
Prior to the founding of MBN, what can be considered as the forerunner of this network was Central Broadcasting America, which had two of their flagship channels in the United States. CBA's first and main channel was KNLA in Los Angeles, launched on August 13, 1978 on UHF channel 19 formerly occupied by KUWN-TV which had moved to VHF channel 12 in 1957 and was the only more established independent station to reject any network affiliation. WNNY launched on July 8, 1979 as CBA's second and final flagship station in New York City, broadcast on UHF channel 16 and was independent, featuring programming from its independent production arm.

In 1983, CBA announced plans to create a new network that would compete with the "Big Three" networks, creating the "CBA Network" aimed at more established independent affiliates rejecting any network affiliation with both CBA station outlets being the network's new planned affiliate. However, crises and restructuring the company went through forced it to drop plans for CBA Network and the two CBA outlet stations continued to broadcast as independents.

1980s; Network formation
After News Corporation purchased a 50% stake in TCF Holdings in March 1985, TCF Oasina owner Joko Roberto left the company and both News Corp/TCF relinquished their holdings in TCF Oasina while changing its name to Mein Corporation in June 1985. Joko then took advantage of this after the resignation by reaching an agreement with CBA owner, Win Wilson, to buy 25% of the company's broadcasting branch in July 1985 to form a new network.

In October 1985, Mein Corporation announced it would launch their new network using a combination of studio TCF Oasina and the former CBA station to produce and distribute programming (the same way 20th Century Fox announced it would establish the Fox network). The two CBA-owned stations would become charter affiliates of Mein Television Company (abbreviated as MTC), with both stations' headquarters being renamed Mein Television Center. For the network's programming to air in other markets, Detroit was the only market the audience wanted through WDTR-TV (which had aired various KNLA-WNNY programming Monday-Friday and Saturday-Sunday respectively), so Mein and CBA reached addition agreement on November 7, 1987 to purchase WDTR-TV (channel 5) from the Detroit Network resulting in a total of 3 network affiliates in certain markets which became the property of MTC.

MTC began trial broadcasts on December 1, 1985 airing some mix programming from WNNY-KNLA and the rest of programs produced by its independent production arm. MTC officially launched in the "Come Along to The Best of MBN" grand launch program on April 12, 1986 and formalized the network's current original name, MBN (short for Mein Broadcasting Network), with WGDM-TV (channel 8) being the network's first affiliate. At that time, with the exception of WDTR-TV and WGDM-TV, MBN was in the same position as the other fourth television efforts, having little choice but to affiliate with a UHF station in the market where it was licensed. From its launch until 1988, MBN programs were mostly KNLA and WNNY productions, with some syndicated programming from independent productions.

However, as 1988 entered, MBN began to acquire old programs aired by UWN which included Griselda, The Eye, Doraemon, and The Littles, as long as their ownership was under the first MBN entertainment president, Joko Roberto. Also, in July 1988, MBN persuaded the News Corporation's Baltimore station WBBC-TV (channel 7, now WFAC-TV) to become an affiliate of the network until it was outright purchased by the network in December of the same year. MBN then completed the purchase of a 75% interest in CBA in December 1986, resulting in these 3 stations becoming permanently owned and operated MBN stations.

1990s
In February 1990, the network entered its new year of profitable programming finance thanks to the network's first syndicated program, The Presentation, which featured attendees presenting to clients and audiences. Shortly thereafter, Roberto immediately left MBN to return to CEO of Mein Corporation through his official announcement on April 5, 1990, resulting in the network deciding to recruit Sin-Kwang Ryoo (former president of entertainment UWN from 1978-1987) as president of entertainment and CEO of MBN. MBN also appointed Barbara Davies of UWN and Steve Williams of the former WNNY board of trustees from 1975, to serve as presidents of the respective MBN Television Stations division and MBN board of trustees. The three officially took over the post on April 15, 1990, the same year that MBN began its major restructuring, which saw MBN programming become available on most stations as a secondary affiliate in emerging markets.

As a result of the restructuring, MBN ordered its various affiliates including network-owned stations to provide local news programming, to compete with longstanding local news outlets on established stations. The network's dedicated local news service, MBN NewsCenter, was launched in July 1991 as the network's first news program produced by the WNNY news department as MBN did not have its own news department until 1995. Also as a result of this, 2 stations belonging to the network began to expand their news programming hours to fill the vacant schedule, while 2 other stations WBBC-TV and WDTR-TV began producing their first local news in September of that year.

Kwang Ryoo launched their own network standard since 1992, which is called the MBN Quality Standard, in which the 4-6 pm program is filled with local news provided by each affiliate, the primetime program is filled with novela programs obtained through a partnership with TV Globo, and the Saturday-Sunday morning program from 4-5:30 am is filled with children's programming blocks. However, the standard was dropped following criticism from Mein Corporation executives and complaints from the audience, so the standard was canceled in February 1992. The only success, however, were the 4-6 pm program slots filled with local news programming by each affiliate, allowing MBN to continue to compete with other stations.

Following the cancellation, MBN reverted to their traditional format, while acquiring syndicated programming rights for other networks such as Entertainment Tonight, Law & Order, Wheel of Fortune, Hollywood Squares, and The People's Court to fill their existing network-only The Presentation syndicated programming schedule. MBN achieved its first major change in 1994, when the network struck a deal with rival Fox Broadcasting Company to share NFL programming when Fox had just won its bidding rights from the National Football Conference in 1993.