Scipion Studio Enterprises
Scipion Studio Enterprises is a major broadcast corporation headquartered on Scipion in the Fracana League. Since its foundation in AU 1986, it has become the largest single trideo and film studio in civilized space, as well as being a major disseminator of news to societies that don't wish to maintain stricter control over their own news media. Scipion Studio Enterprises have expanded its operations greatly, and maintain a network of studios and courier ships that allow them to transmit information nearly as quickly as the Galactic Surveyor's Guild. This network is also used in the rapid distribution of serial programming, feature programming, and music across the galaxy, and moving talent into the fold faster than most other entertainment companies.
Structure
Scipion Studio Enterprises maintains a fairly typical corporate structure, with a board of directors serving at the top of the company, and serving as the overall central directors, and providing the general strategic vision of the company. Below the board of directors are regional offices which are largely operated at the sector level, and a number of smaller studios, news gathering operations, and distributors who operate at a more regionalized and a vast network of informants and other individuals who can be hired on for small pieces of information, or short term work in the studio.
Board of Directors
The SSE Board of Directors operates from Scipion itself, with a headquarters located on the planetary capital, Presidia. The Board itself consists primarily of long serving members, often coming from elite families on Scipion, or more rarely from the Sol Sector. Decisionmaking among board members is done by committee, though occasionally a chief executive has been elected from the board to serve some sort of temporary goal. The board of directors dictates the overall strategic plan of the corporation. as well as operating the studios within the Fracana League. The office of SSE Security, which generally safeguards the studios and investigates incidents pertaining to the courier network is also based in the Scipion office.Sciviso News
The company's news making subsidiary, Sciviso news operates a number of studios throughout civilized space, presenting sector-wide, and "galactic" news in monthly broadcasts, almost always tailored to the needs of the particular sector. Select systems receive daily system news, though this service is not as common, or well known. In order to obtain this news, SSE maintains an extensive network of localized reporters and informants that collect and report the news as quickly as interstellar communication times allow. Sciviso has become the defacto news of record for most of the galaxy, as no other media company maintains a reach throughout civilized space.Tristar Entertainment
By far, the most profitable of SSE's operations, Tristar Entertainment is the primary trid studio, producing feature trideo presentations, trid serials, as well as more traditional film projects. Tristar can, thanks to SSE's network of courier ships distribute these programs on a galactic scale, and such presentations are shown in theaters, and home entertainment systems across civilized space, and sometimes even beyond. Tristar products tend to favor large franchise productions and serials in order to maximize distribution and audiences with built in, long term fanbases. Tristar generally leave smaller scale, and more regionalized productions to the Karrara Group.Presidia Records
The chief record label for SSC, Presidia Records has a reputation for sponsoring only the most marketable performers, and is indeed extremely selective about its clientele. Presidia records is generally quite conservative with its releases, with highly processed products intended for mass market appeal. More specialized musical acts are passed on to smaller studios in the Karrara Group. Presidia maintains its own small, special fleet of courier boats which it uses to announce concert tours and hype up audiences in the more developed parts of the galaxy for these events.Karrara Group
A holding company for a vast array of smaller film and trid studios throughout the galaxy, Karrara Group is generally the part of SSC where lower budget, and, for lack of a better term, riskier film, trid, and music productions, the Karrara Group allows, SSE to experiment with more risky projects, without risking damage to core SSE brand, as well as produce projects for regional consumption or to be seen as "independent". Karrara Group has been buying small studios at a rapid pace, and has, despite being part of a megacorporation, become the largest distributor of "independent" media.Scipion Legal
Originally a small number of corporate lawyers hired, SSE in order to have its own in house legal team, instead of relying on outsiders, Scipion Legal has become a major law firm in its own right. Operating in every sector of civilized space, with legal officials able to practice law in most of the galaxy, and with networks of other reliable attorneys where it cannot, SSE provides ample legal services to employees almost anywhere they might find themselves. In recent times, Scipion Legal has expanded its operations and opened its services to the general public, though in practice the fees exacted by Scipion legal see it serving primarily exceptionally wealthy clients, and rarely, smaller planetary governments.Public Agenda
Scipion Studio Enterprises is first and foremost a for-profit corporation with the primary aim of brining profits to its shareholders. For the most part its strategic objectives align with that overall aim. SSE generally tries to achieve this objective first through gaining as large a possible market share in mass media, and secondly through attempting to subtly control public policy in the states in which it wields influence to favor strengthening protections for, and the length of terms of intellectual property, something which allows it maintain economic control over its products. SSE has therefore been using its control over the news in order to undermine the credibility of Stelsoc and data anarchist projects throughout the galaxy, and promote hardline Frentierist perspectives in the media they produce.
Assets
Scipion Studio Enterprises maintains a broad array of substantial assets. Chief among these are its fleet of express boats, which is among the largest in civilized space, second only to the Galactic Surveyor's Guild. These small ships are used with great effect to improve rapid communication and distribution of media along the jump corridors. In addition, the company maintains a vast network of studios, editing offices, and data centers. Some of these facilities are in effective control of entire planets, especially in the frontiers. On the whole SSE reletively advanced assets, with nothing currently in use being more crude than an early stellar level of technology,
History
Scipion Studio Enterprises was first founded as Scipion Entertainment in the waning days of the Age of Unity. Initially a small operation, it made a major hit with the Scout Speeder Steve trideo serial, set during the early days Jred Scourge, which was the first of their projects to be distributed across much of the civilized galaxy. The financial nest egg from this and other projects released during the Scourge allowed Scipion Entertainment to weather the earliest part of the Long Night, and develop its infrastructure on the Scipion system. It was during this time that Scipion Entertainment began to take up news broadcasting, and became a major news source for Fracana, and the surrounding systems.
As the Union of Sol became increasingly interested in controlling the media made within its territory, Scipion Entertainment was seized by the Union, and became a major propaganda house for the state. During this time it was merged with a number of other studios in the Fracana system to become the systems only media company, Scipion Broadcasting. After the Fracana League broke away from the Union of Sol, Scipion Broadcasting would try and retain its market domination of the systems within the League, and successfully crippled the efforts of the Stelsoc faction within the league to break their company up. This move, also more generally handicapped the Stelsoc movement within the League and ensured the limitation of movements to abolish private property within the League.
Since the establishment of the Fracana League, Scipion Broadcasting, since reorganized into Scipion Studio Entertainment has grown rapidly to become one of the most important and influential corporate entities in the galaxy, and indeed the most powerful media company in civilized space. It has bought up a number of smaller studios and made use of its robust cadre of legal experts to ensure that it can ship its products almost anywhere in the galaxy. This has granted SSE a good deal of cash and influence, something which the company has used to ensure a greater deal of latitude with many interstellar states. SSE are currently played in most systems of civilized space, and even a few on the frontier.
Everything you see
UOP - Scipion Studio Enterprises 36584
Maximum Tech-Level - 16
Maximum Tech-Level - 16
Founding Date
AU 1986
Type
Corporation, Entertainment
Alternative Names
Scipion Broadcasting, Scipion Entertainment
Related Professions
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