UDL TV

UDL TV (Luciani: Universitad da Luciania Televisión, Spanish: Universidad de Luciania Televisión) is a free-to-air Lucianian TV channel owned by the University of Luciania. It launched on September 9, 1945, a week after globally ended; during that time period, Luciania entered a 77-year communist dictatorship and the University of Luciania made the channel as a result of them complaining about the state-owned Tele Felipe being unreliable. It's notably the second national channel, as well as one of the most viewed, in Luciania, receiving over 8 million weekly viewers.

The channel is part of the Lucianian TV Association, the Dischian Telecommunications Organization, and the first Lucianian channel to be part of the, joining it in 1981. Besides the main channel, UDL TV also has a second signal, named UDL TV 2, alongside an international channel named UDL TV Internacional, the latter available through the LNsat satellite and on international cable providers.

The network has gained popularity for its entertainment programs, as well as the news program UDL Noticias, its children's block Teleniños, notable for airing ' and ', the 1983-86  short series and most notably, having the rights to air Chikn Nuggit, leading to its huge Lucianian popularity, with exclusive merchandise and the character appearing in commercials.

1945-1979: Humble beginnings
On September 2, 1945, ended worldwide. The ended their occupation of Luciania and as a result went back to being an independent country, with a communist dictatorship that would last for 77 years. As a result, the then-Russian-language channel Lusianiyskoye Televideniye was rebranded to Tele Felipe, broadcasting contents in both Spanish and Luciani. After said event, the University of Luciania started to notice some problems with Tele Felipe, stating that the channel was unreliable, especially with its news program Telenoticias, which tends to air misconstrued news about the society at the time, as well as even promoting the Lucianian Communist Party. Eventually, the university obtained a license from the Lucianian TV Association, approving the broadcasts of a new channel.

Due to the lack of satellite television at the time, the university offered a task to expand the channel through new antennas. The first antenna was put on the UTC -9 area, later following quickly with the other timezone-based areas. Eventually, on September 9, 1945, UDL TV broadcast for the first time in two languages: Luciani, in the even frequencies, and Spanish, in the odd frequencies. Its first broadcast featured the logo of the channel, followed by a person introducing the channel to viewers. After that is a report from UDL Noticias, followed by a schedule featuring programmes, and the programmes from the aforementioned schedule airing, being short and long films, until the channel signs off. The broadcast time back then was from 6:00 AM to 12:00 AM. By 1953, the sign off was extended to 1:00 AM.

In 1956, was introduced, allowing the university to record live programmes and re-air them in case the audience misses it. This also allowed for more fluid animation in channel bumpers, idents, promos and live-action programmes, as in contrast to film which had a 24hz refresh rate, the TV standard used, being, used a 60hz refresh rate, giving over twice the frame rate. In November 1957, UDL TV aired a report about the start of TV broadcasts in, with discussion regarding said country's first TV channel,.

During the 1960s, UDL TV started exporting Japanese programmes, stating that they were much cheaper to export than American programmes. It mainly included anime such as Donkikko, ' and ', which therefore introducded the Teleniños block. They proved to be major successes for the channel, receiving decent ratings and even leading to the channel's growth in viewership.

On September 11, 1973, the channel started reporting about the, and after the book The Life of Salvador Allende was published in Luciania (which wouldn't come to Chile until its transition to democracy in 1990 due to censorship), a one-hour TV adaptation was aired, which besides being recorded on videotape, would also later be re-recorded on a to turn it into a film reel, making it viewable on movie theaters across the country, marking the first time a TV production also premiered on cinema.

In 1977, the channel made its first Scanimate ident, which although was produced in color, was originally aired in black and white. As a result of the color transition in 1979, the ident would later air in color, albeit with a different logo.

On December 6, 1978, UDL TV became the first international TV channel to air the, and also the only one to air it in black and white, as by that point color TV had yet to be introduced in Luciania.

1979-1981: Color era
On February 1, 1979, almost a month after Tele Felipe started color broadcasts, UDL TV would start its own color broadcasts as well. This led to the aforementioned Chilean telethon reairing in color, with donations being open again, albeit with the new money now going to Lucianian charity hospitals. Also reran in color are already-aired programmes, including those that left the channel years ago.

On May 5, 1979, the channel became the new network for , airing its then-new second anime. This is because the dubbing studio found the 1979 anime to have more "wild" humor, the most recent example at the time being in episode 23, which featured the infamous scene of "Nobita hiding under Shizuka's dress", and therefore feared that Tele Felipe, who aired the 1973 anime, could potentially censor the 1979 anime, so as a result, Tele Felipe's final broadcast of Doraemon '73, airing on April 29, 1979, was a marathon of all its 26 episodes; the saturday after that, Doraemon '79 debuted on UDL TV with barely any censorship, yet still aimed at children and aired through the Teleniños block, making Luciania the first country outside of Japan to air the anime, although the pilot episode, which would eventually air in Japan on October, ended up airing instead as the first episode in Luciania, making it the first country to air the pilot. Similar to more modern dubs, due to TV Asahi premiering new individual segments from Monday to Saturday, UDL TV took advantage and instead aired it with a "3 segments per episode" (2 segments for the first episode) format, with the episodes premiering on Saturdays and Sundays. This therefore led to the  franchise as a whole gaining even more popularity in Luciania, with exported and exclusive merchandise, as well as in 1987, a McDonald's Happy Meal promotion that was quickly sold out.

1981-1988: "TV screen" era
On October 11, 1981, the channel rebranded with a logo resembling a TV screen, which would become a staple in its 7-year period. That same year, the Doraemon anime on TV Asahi was changed to only air on Fridays with a "2 segments per episode" format, so UDL TV decided to similarly change the format of the series by airing one new segment, followed by a rerun of a previous segment, while still keeping the Saturday and Sunday premiere format. In 1982, TV Asahi changed the format again by having one new episode, followed by two reruns, so UDL TV once again changed the format so that new episodes would air on Saturday, followed by a rerun in Sunday in case children forget to watch the previous one.

On September 3, 1982, to celebrate Doraemon 's -130th birthday, a one-week marathon aired, with weekdays airing it in the evening at a run time of 5 hours, whereas weekends air it in the morning at a run time of 11 hours. Another marathon was aired on May 5, 1984, this time to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the 1979 anime's premiere in Luciania, although the run times were cut by one hour to make space for the 1983-86  short series, which on UDL TV, premiered on December 3, 1983. On October 27, 1984, the channel started its stereo broadcasts as a result of VHS-based VCRs from that point onwards offering Hi-Fi audio recording.

On September 9, 1985, the channel celebrated its 40th anniversary with a one-week marathon of its older programmes, as well as a documentary regarding the history of the channel.

In 1987, when the aforementioned Doraemon McDonald's Happy Meal promotion sold out, a special news report was made, which discussed the huge demand, as well as the franchise apologizing by rewarding miscellaneous toys and gadgets to children who couldn't get the toys in time.

1988-1996: Post-"TV screen" era
By October 16, 1988, the channel updated its TV-screen-like logo to a simpler one, featuring the channel's name, with "UDL" having a shadow casting underneath, whereas "TV" is located inside a blue circle. A new identity package was also introduced, being the first one to use CGI. That same day, besides the Teleniños block that aired on weekend mornings, a new preschool block, named UDL Pre-Kinder, was added, airing on weekday mornings and featuring educational, non-violent programs.

On March 11, 1990 after the, a documentary regarding the history of Chile aired on UDL TV, with critical acclaim, alongside a special news report after the documentary which details more of the transition of democracy, as well as the exportation of the Lucianian book The Life of Salvador Allende whose Chilean publication took over 15 years to get done as a result of censorship during the military dictatorship.

During the, some of the news the channels had been airing started to be related with the Middle East, with the most reported country being Iraq, which is where the war began. This also led to the channel airing a campaign named "Peace for All" (Luciani: "Paza paros tudos", Spanish: "Paz para todos"), which involves someone sending territories to peace by prohibiting war and other related crimes.

In 1992, age ratings from the LRA were starting to be used. This also led to Doraemon '79 being rated ages 7+ and moved to be the final daily program of the Teleniños block, due to its unusual-for-a-kids-program humor, such as Shizuka's love for bathing and Gian's cartoon violence. That same year, on September 3, to celebrate Doraemon's -120th birthday, another one-week marathon was aired, this time with the latest episodes as of the marathon's air date.

In 1993, the UDL Pre-Kinder block added Nontan to Issho to its list of programs, and gained popularity with preschoolers, being on par with Doraemon.

On September 9, 1995, the channel celebrated its 50th anniversary with a campaign named "Half a century of entertainment" (Luciani: "Medio siglo do entertimiento", Spanish: "Medio siglo de entretenimiento"), showing classic moments from the channel.

1996-2002: Aquatic era
On December 21, 1996, to celebrate the start of summer in the (which is where Luciania is located in), the channel updated is logo and adopted a new identity package, with a style based on water, sea, and tropical areas. Even after summer was over, it was still used due to its popularity and praise from viewers. The channel also opened its official website at udltv.ln.

Notably, on May 27, 1999, Twipsy premiered on the channel through a full marathon. Afterwards, the series started airing regularly on the Teleniños block, with much success.

By June 5, 1999, the channel started airing PSAs about Y2K, stating that the year 2000 won't be the end of the world, while also stating that some computers might malfunction due to calendar errors, and that updates may be needed to make it function properly in the 21st century.

On January 1, 2000, the new millennium was celebrated, featuring a marathon of the channel's most popular programmes, which lasted for a fortnight.

On September 11, 2001, one of the channel's programmes was interrupted by a report about the. Afterwards, a documentary about the attacks started production, which would eventually air in the channel and premiere in theaters on October 1, 2002 as An American Tragedy.

2002-2006: Modernized era
On February 2, 2002, the channel's logo was updated to one, which although is similar, has notably different shading and font thickness. A new identity package was also introduced, mostly focusing on the so-called "Y2K aesthetic".

On September 3, 2002, to celebrate Doraemon's -110th birthday, A rerun of 2112: The Birth of Doraemon (which previously premiered on the channel in late 1995) was aired, followed by yet another one-week marathon featuring the latest standard episodes, after which is an additional marathon featuring the feature films, specials and the remaining short films (including spin-offs such as The Doraemons and Dorami-chan: Mini-Dora SOS!!!).

In 2004, the channel made a special report regarding the ongoing peak of the s, by talking about the merchandise, the fanbase and even Flash animations such as Troubled Windows.

In early 2005, after the 1979 Doraemon anime ended, a very long marathon was aired featuring all of the 1979 anime episodes (including specials; excluding episode 506 which was banned), as well all of the then-recent films, with weekdays airing 4 hours in the evening, and weekends airing 10 hours in the morning. After the marathon ended, the 2005 anime premiered in Luciania, achieving a lot of success due to its visuals being impressive for the era. The 2005 anime is also rated 0+, as opposed to the 1979 anime's 7+, due to the 2005 anime's more censored humor, although a few scenes such as Shizuka bathing were kept.

On September 9, 2005, the channel celebrated its 60th anniversary and as a pun, aired content from the 1960s.

2006-present: Current era
On November 4, 2006, the channel received its current logo update. The new identity package was made with Frutiger Aero with mind, although in 2015 it transitioned to Frutiger Metro.

In 2007, the channel started reporting about a then-recently-rising internet video category, called s, which gained attention and even lead to YTPs of the report itself.

In 2010, the channel started its digital boradcasts, using the Japanese standard, allowing for a high-definition  image, at a 16:9 aspect ratio.

On September 3, 2012, for Doraemon's -100th birthday, another marathon was aired per tradition, this time with all the dubbed episodes from both the 1979 and 2005 animes, as well as all the films and short films. Once the marathon ended, a special animation featuring Doraemon being surprised for his birthday, blowing the candles, opening the gifts and even eating a piece of a special cake made out of dorayaki ingredients. This proved to be the most successful moment in the channel's history.

On September 9, 2015, the channel celebrated its 70th anniversary, with a marathon featuring reruns of older content, starting with, as a pun, content from the '70s, followed by those from the '80s, the '90s, the 2000s and even the 2010s.

On March 8, 2021, UDL TV obtained the rights to the social media short series Chikn Nuggit, being not only the first TV network to ait it, but also the first to use the format reused for later TV airings: firstly is an intro, followed by a set of the most trendy shorts, labelled as "the hot picks", after which are the three latest shorts, labelled as "the new ones", after which is an outro. This became a success for the channel, leading to the series a whole being popular in Luciania, to the point of receiving physical merchandise that elsewhere, are either online-only or unreleased, as well as the characters appearing in commercials and even references and cameos in locally produced programmes.

On September 3, 2022, for Doraemon's -90th birthday, a one-day marathon was aired, this time only covering the 2005 anime, alongside a special episode that just premiered in the series's native Japan, followed by a music video of Happy ☆ Lucky Birthday! featuring clips from the anime, similar to the one seen in the Japanese broadcast.

On November 27, 2022, after Luciania's transition to democracy, a special report was made, showing how people are praising it.

On January 9, 2023, after the Republic of Nicoland was bombed, it became a Lucianian state, leading to UDL TV expanding its coverage to there. On March 26, 2023, Josesia gained independence, leading to the channel in the then-new country being replaced with JosesiaPlus (replacing the Luciani-language feed) and Canal Amatista (replacing the Spanish-language feed), both broadcasting exclusively in Spanish and being completely unrelated to UDL TV.

On April 10, 2023, Luciania was bombed, so as a result, news reports were made, also mentioning that due to the old TV transmitters being damaged, the government scheduled the analog TV shutdown for September 5; the news additionally mentioned other damages, such as 1,500,000 being killed (including 100,000 children), as well as 900,000 missing and 300,000 children being orphaned (80,000 of which died of disnutrition the following week), plus the extinction of a few animal species and bombed monuments and buildings being repaired by the Lucianian Peace Foundation.

On June 30, 2023, Zacken, originally belonging to the then-dictatorial Funtenia, was annexed by Luciania, leading to its coverage being expanded there, this time with German-language programming on the VHF band, simulcasting in PAL-A on channel 6 and NTSC-M on channel 7, as well as repeaters of the Spanish-language and Luciani-language UTC -9 feeds on UHF channels 18 and 19, respectively; additionally, the analog TV shutdown in Zacken was delayed to 2025 (excluding Fernandia, which was annexed by Zacken almost a month after the nationwide ASO). On September 5, 2023, when analog TV was shut down in almost all of Luciania, the channel firstly showed a screen stating that the channel's analog transmissions ended; the day after that, a series of analog-to-digital PSAs aired, featuring characters from the channel's own shows, as well as exported ones such as Chikn Nuggit, Doraemon, Nontan to Issho and Twipsy. Eventually, on September 12, the PSAs concluded and the channel's old sign off aired, albeit modified with a more emotional song, as well as a replaced logo and a voice-over stating that analog broadcasts concluded, and that the audience will need to switch to digital, later followed by the signal being shut down, therefore only showing static.