Empire TV
Empire TV was a television network on the class M planet 892-IV, where a civilization, mirroring the Roman Empire, had survived into the 20th century equivalent of Earth.
Its news broadcasts were in black-and-white, and intercepted by the USS Enterprise in 2268 and shown on its viewscreen while that vessel attempted to determine the status of the SS Beagle. Later, a landing party became the unwilling collaborators in one of the network's offerings.
Prime-time programming was in color, and consisted of gladiator fights supervised by local government officials such as Proconsul Claudius Marcus and First Citizen Merikus. State executions were a recurring feature on its flagship program, Name the Winner These programs were supported by commercial sponsorship from various concerns such as automobile manufacturers — for example, the Jupiter 8 was among the products advertised on the network.
Good ratings were as valued by Empire TV personnel as they were by their Earth counterparts. Though produced on a sound stage, the impression of a live audience was created by means of recorded cheering and hisses from a crowd; again, this practice was not dissimilar to television productions on 1960s Earth. (TOS: "Bread and Circuses")