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July 2

Omni Broadcasting Network

I have an unusual problem and I'm hoping this is the right place to bring it. There's a Wikipedia page for something called the Omni Broadcasting Network, and I can't find any hard evidence that it exists or ever existed. It was allegedly an over-the-air television network in the United States in the 2000s. Such an entity would have had affiliates in the form of stations, but I can't find a list of them anywhere. I found a first-party list of towns that allegedly had affiliates, but that's it. It would have also had extensive dealings with the FCC, as the regulating body for the industry, and I can't find any evidence of that either. What there is is an archived copy of the now-defunct website for the alleged network and some scattered outlying information I'll detail below. If the absence of evidence was complete, I would have just taken the page to AfD. It's more complicated than that, which is why I'm asking for input.

Yesterday I tagged the page as a possible hoax and found the article's original creator, who's still active here and who agreed to do some more research to verify the article. At the time it had two references, one of which was the homepage described above and both of which were defunct and archived. The other editor has done a fair amount of digging (see the talk page there for details) but I'm unconvinced the sources they've turned up are credible. I've done digging myself but didn't find anything but dead links and press releases. Part of my question is whether this article deserves to exist, but another part is the question is whether I'm being unreasonable in my push for verification.

My original thought was that the Omni Broadcasting Network was completely fictional, an outside hoax that got picked up and added to Wikipedia. There are talk page comments going back to 2006 that question the article's veracity, but nobody before me followed up on it. I no longer believe it's exactly a hoax. The other editor has found some online legal documentation for the parent company, Omni Holdings. I find some of those sources convincing, but the documentation for the network itself is (so far) press releases and a newspaper TV schedule that I can't see in full resolution because it's behind a paywall. The network is credited with winning something called a Telly Award in 2005 - [1] - but there are no details on that page and I've never heard of the Telly Awards before. A lot of sources are weird dead ends like this, as I've detailed on the talk page there.

If the Omni Broadcasting Network ever actually existed - that is, had at least one affiliate transmitting a network feed for a single day - shouldn't there be direct evidence of that somewhere? Wouldn't there be programming reviews, FCC filings, old instructions on where to watch, maybe clips on YouTube? The Overmyer Network existed for less than a year in the 1960s, but that page has a full affiliate list and list of mentions in third-party news sources. I haven't been able to find anything on the Omni Broadcasting Network that comes from a source I've heard of.

So I no longer believe this is a hoax, exactly, but I don't think the network ever got off the ground or even had a definite death date, which I would argue makes it non-notable. Can more experienced editors tell me if there are useful precedents for handling this sort of thing? Tisnec (talk) 00:54, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

If you can't find any substantial sources, then you should nominate it for deletion per WP:NORG, regardless of whether it is a hoax or just something that never took off. WP:Afding it would also bring in more (beady) eyes. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:19, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Checking Newspapers.com (a pay site, and not comprehensive), I found a grand total of 13 references - 12 of which are actually the same article, about Snopes.com selling a program about urban legends to this mysterious Omni Broadcasting Network. In September of 2003, it was supposedly going to debut the next month. The other item is from May of 2003, which again states this Omni thing was supposed to debut "next month". Like you, I'm not sure it's a hoax, but it's possible it never got off the ground. One thing you could do is ask at the Snopes website! ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:23, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Huh, that sounds like it would be doing just for the curiosity factor. Tisnec (talk) 04:05, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

??? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:51, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I notice that this entity is not listed on the disambiguation page Omni, although the Canadian network Omni Television is. If the Omni Broadcasting Network's reality is confirmed, I suggest it be added, but perhaps not before then! {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.0.163 (talk) 08:27, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

NOOOO! Existence is not enough. It has to be a notable company of which we have more than mere speculation. Clarityfiend (talk) 09:43, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

My suggestion is predicated on the assumption that the subject, about which we already have an article, is (or was) "real" (i.e. not just a hoax Wikipedia article) and notable and that the article stands. If neither turn out to be the case, then of course it should not be listed. A fictional entity can be notable (we have articles on Narnia, for example), but it appears that if this TV network is a fictional creation (outside of the actual article), it's not well enough known and documented to be notable. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.0.163 (talk) 22:04, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure if this is relevent, but [2] has OBN as a fictional entity. If you poke around there, there are also entries for the affiliates, also fictional. RudolfRed (talk) 16:01, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I saw that in the Google search I did but hadn't actually looked at it before. This seems to be a blend of real material (there's outside paperwork I've seen saying Omni Holdings owns OBN, assuming either one really exists) with the patently fictional (some of the states the OBN affiliates are listed in on this wiki are fictional). Obviously a Fandom wiki wouldn't be a reliable source even if all the information on it was accurate, but this is something else. We're edging into "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" territory here. Tisnec (talk) 16:16, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Which is why I suggested contacting Snopes. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:59, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Tisnec, adding here to continue the discussion at Talk:Omni Broadcasting Network.

I have found the following:

From Tom Jicha, Sun Sentinel, May 17, 2003, about WBWP-LD:

WBWP hopes to eventually spruce up prime time with a new programming service called the Omni Broadcasting Network, which is scheduled to debut in June.

In the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, May 29, 2003, on the same LPTV station:

The station is hoping Nichols' professionalism will rub off on its other shows, which will mainly be run by locals with no TV experience. There's a nightly call-in show hosted by high schoolers and talk shows on computers and alternative medicine. Eventually, the station hopes to join a new network called Omni Broadcasting. Channel 57's general manager, Steve Sarafian, isn't sure what Omni will carry or when it will start (the network also had several delayed launches), but he says it's something to do with family shows. He referred questions to the Omni website. A number for the network's corporate headquarters, listed on the site, is answered by a recording that says, "We're sorry. That is not a valid mailbox."

This network is like vaporware, but not so anticipated that it became notable in the process. It claimed to have business activities but never achieved notability in any of them, even in later years when it branched into import/export businesses and plastics recycling. We can confirm precisely two stations that would have aired its programming if it had any. It fails WP:CORP. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 20:52, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Sammi. I actually can confirm, through NewspaperArchive, somewhere between 30-100 stations aired the 2005 Four Tops special. I just used the calls of one station as an example. Firsfron of Ronchester 19:42, 4 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]