TV Ark
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 TV Ark's new homepage |
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| URL | http://www.tv-ark.org.uk |
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| Commercial? | no |
| Type of site | |
| Owner | |
| Created by | |
| Launched | November 1998 |
| Current status | present |
TV Ark is a website that archives images and video clips which illustrate British television presentation history. Content includes idents, programme promotions, opening title sequences, public information films, commercials, daily start-ups and closedowns, break bumpers and station clocks. Each item has a short written analysis.
A huge selection of clips represents the work of many broadcasting and production companies, principally the national and regional divisions of the BBC and ITV, plus Channel 4 and Five, along with a few satellite channels. Programme clips are grouped into genres such as soaps, game shows, quiz shows, comedy, drama and cult, and are formatted in the RealMedia codec.
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[edit] History of TV Ark
TV Ark was founded in the dial-up era, as a one-man hobby site called "Television Ark" in November 1998. At that time, there were just a few pages containing a handful of low-resolution clips that were easy to download but were smaller to look at than an average postage stamp. Over the years, the clips and images have grown in size to reflect the increasing use of broadband. The site has also expanded but is still run entirely as a hobby by an eight-man team, with updates and additions made whenever their time permits. In December 2005 they absorbed the remains of SchoolsTV.com, a website dedicated to television programming for schools. The site is dedicated to the founder's late mother, Valerie Hackett.
During the summer of 2006 it was announced on their home page that they were having a summer break and would relaunch the site in the future. The site relaunched on December 25, 2006, with many sections initially under construction, resulting in limited content being available. The relaunch saw the clips put into a new download system in an effort to preventing hotlinking and preserve bandwidth. In addition the relaunch saw the addition of a semi-transparent watermark (DOG) to new clips added to the site, to prevent "web snatching" of clips.
[edit] International Section
As well as showing UK clips TV-Ark also has an international section which includes clips from the following countries: -
Brazil - Globo, SBT, Record, Rede TV, Bandeirantes
Canada - CBC, CTV, Global, CBC Newsworld, A-Channel, City TV Toronto
Denmark - DR1, TV2
France - TV5MONDE
Germany - Sat.1, RTL, RTL II
Netherlands - Nederland 1, Nederland 2, Nederland 3, RTL 4, RTL 5, SBS6, RTL 7, Nickelodeon, National Geographic Channel
Norway - NRK1, NRK2, TV2, TV4, TV1, TV Norge, Filmnet+, TV3, TV1000
Spain - TVE1, TVE2, Antena 3 Televisión, Canal+, Tele 5, Canal 9 Valencia
Sweden - SVT1, SVT2, Kanal 5, TV6
United States - ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, The WB, UPN, CNN, CNN Headline News, Cinemax, PBS, HBO, Showtime, USA Network, TBS, BBC America
Australia is slated to be the next country to be included in the TV Ark international line-up.
[edit] Submitting Material
The organisers accept tapes of vintage television presentation through the post.
Formats accepted by TV Ark
- VHS (PAL or NTSC)
- Betamax (PAL)
- DVD-R / DVD+R (PAL or NTSC)
- Mini DV (PAL)
- DVcam (PAL)
- DVCPRO (PAL)
- Beta SP (PAL)
- HDCAM
[edit] Reviews & Awards
- Wanadoo (Summer 2004): Ten of Best (4)
- WebUser (May 2004): Number 4 (Wallow in TV nostalgia)
- TV Cream (April 2004): TV Cream's Top 50 Media Movers & Shakers (48)
- BBC Somerset Sound: Discussing TV Ark (Rating 5/5)
- Web Active (Issue 22 - Jan & Feb 2003): Rating 5/5
[edit] TV Ark Forums
Following the closure of TV Ark's various forums on 18 December 2005, a new forum was setup by the former's site administrator (see external links) as a separate venture.
