OrbitTv/docs/channels

Channel identity documents

One short document per station, so anyone defining channels, rules or the future Living Network has the same editorial reference. Channel identity decides what belongs. Scheduling decides when it airs. What's On decides what's worth highlighting.

Each document holds:

1. Identity: the channel's personality in a sentence or two, and its tagline if it has one.
2. Core: five to ten signature shows that make it recognisable. Aim for about 70% of airtime, as a guide, not a quota.
3. Supporting: shows that give it depth. About 20%.
4. Surprises: occasional guests, cult favourites, special blocks and new arrivals. About 10%.
5. Time of day: its blocks, with hours and what each is for.
6. Order: which shows run mixed (standalone episodes) and which run in order (story arcs).
7. Crossover: shows it shares, and which channel is each show's preferred home. A preferred home is never exclusive.
8. New arrivals: the kinds of future additions that belong here.
9. Status: agreed, proposed or built, with the date and the app version.

How weighting works today: within a block, every show gets an equal turn, and from 0.87.0 each block remembers its own place in the rotation, so a block with more shows than slots still reaches every show over the week. A show's share comes from how many blocks it appears in, so core shows sit in two blocks and supporting shows in one. There are no percentages in the scheduler. Over weeks, a show's share also follows its episode count, because each show finishes its run before its block starts everyone again; blocks decide when shows air more than how often.

Film channels follow their own model (genre, rest period, first Orbit screenings), not the 70/20/10 guide.

Documents so far: Paradox (agreed), Orbit 1 (agreed), Orbit 2 (agreed), Orbit Three, Orbit Gold and Riot (agreed in principle, installed in 0.87.0), Vortex, Heroes, Orbit X, Rewind and ToonZ (agreed in principle, installed in 0.88.0), Terra, Orbit Wild, Odyssey, Dark Files and Evidence (agreed, installed in 0.89.0), and the film channels: Premiere, Action, Sci-Fi, Horror, After Dark, VHS, Romance, Detour, BritX, Wonder, PixelZ (0.90.0), Orbit Junior and Ring X (agreed, 0.93.0), and, documented as they are, Orbit Tots and the Drive-In.

Historical inspiration: real UK channels (Sky One, Trouble, Challenge TV, BBC Two teatime, Bravo, early BBC Three, UK Gold, Cartoon Network UK, Toonami UK, Fox Kids UK, Boomerang) inform the feel. Documents separate verified historical programming, with sources, from shows that only fit the style. Orbit takes the feeling, not a frozen copy of an old schedule.