YTV or
Youth Television, a national
television station in
Canada based in
Ontario, offers 24hr youth programing in a
line-up which features shows aimed at a range of
demographics from pre-adolecent to young adults in a
format where shows generally become more mature later in the day.
It also produces a variety of children's programming from live action to animation (Are You Afraid of the Dark? -now on Family, a Disney channel -, Goosebumps, Student Bodies, and many others.) It has produced so many in fact that many will recognize their logo despite the fact that the station may or may not be broadcast in their locality, simply from the credits of various shows syndicated to other channels. It also co-produces shows with other channels such as MTV (Live Through This) and has taken part in international co-productions.
YTV also imports shows from across the globe (mostly from British Commonwealth countries, America, and Japanese anime) and is often the staging area for international shows to enter the North American audience. Many excellent shows which are aired on the station can not be seen anywhere else in North America. As a result of the global base from which the shows are chosen from, the station also provides a unique experiance of other cultures beside the North American, and *gasp*, the oppertunity to hear accents.
It is also among the first channels to pioneer the concept of live on-air personalities much like those on music channels, that create a continuity in show schedules by hosting short segments between shows and during commercial breaks. A collection of segmentswhich are hosted by the same on-air personalities and feature similar shows becomes a progamming block with its own name, and distinctive style, for example the long lived and still running after-school time slot, The Zone. Considerable effort is put into the design of a time slot and each one is filmed on a different, highly professional and custom-catered streamlined set which establishs a general specific atmosphere for that time block.
This interesting format has the advantages of allowing viewers to become attached to a progaming bloc, rather than any specific show that is aired within its framework. As a result, the system works extremely well for children's television as tastes are usually fickle and while the popularity of the show du jour may wain, the audience still continues to tune in at the same time due to a familiarity to a program block, its style, and its hosts. This allows a liberal change in show line-ups when tastes change, and more than helps to intitially launch new and unknown shows by providing a fairly loyal fanbase . The format due to its success has been imitated (usualy quite badly) by many other channels (example: Fox's local Buffalo station's mimic, U's Place) since its inception. However, few if any station approaches YTV's skill in this area and it remains one of the channels most distinctive innovations.