---
title: "Franchises"
canonical: "https://docs.pbs.org/space/MM/5343789/Franchises"
format: markdown
---
> Macro (toc)
## Important note
**Franchises can only be created by PBS and are meant to be used in limited instances.** In lieu of a Franchise designation, please consider the following alternatives:
- Create [Media Manager collections](https://docs.pbs.org/space/MM/5343803/Collections#How-to-create-a-collection)
- Elevate/group your content using [Curate Lists](https://docs.pbs.org/space/CB/327550772/Station+Lists)
## Overview
A Franchise is the brand or parent of a series that does not have any episodes of its own but can include unlimited previews and clips. Some examples of Franchises include:
- Masterpiece
- Ken Burns
- Digital Studios
- This Old House
Shows belonging to a Franchise are displayed on PBS.org via [Curate](https://docs.pbs.org/space/CB/5341186/Curate), a PBS curation tool used to surface some content on PBS.org. If no shows are manually added via Curate, four of the most recently updated shows are added to PBS.org in a static carousel layout at the top of the franchise page.
Viewers of your website can access Franchises by using the search feature, by viewing a show, or by clicking the Shows link in the top navigation menu.
**To request a Franchise, please ****[submit a support ticket](http://digitalsupport.pbs.org/support/tickets/new)****.**
## How to add notes
> Macro (excerpt-include)
## How to add a Franchise
Franchises can only be created by PBS. To have a franchise created, please [submit a support ticket](http://digitalsupport.pbs.org/support/tickets/new) and include information where the "Required for Create" value in the table below is Y. (For the fields where the value is "Y" and there is a default setting, you do not need to include this information, unless you do not want the default value.)
| **Field** | **Notes** | **Required for create?** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Title | Name of the franchise. No more than 256 characters, including spaces. | Y |
| Slug | A unique identifier of the franchise. Cannot be changed after initial save. | Y (automatically generated from Title, and is editable only prior to initial save) |
| Sortable Title | This field determines the display order of a title in an alphabetical list. Removing leading articles such as "the", "a", and "an" will help make titles more discoverable. The Sortable Title itself is never displayed. | N |
| PBS Content ID | Unique ID | Y (automated and not editable) |
| Show NOLA | Four-character, alpha ID assigned by PBS Programming to all national franchises. | N |
| Short Description | 100 characters or less, including spaces. Used primarily when space is limited, such as on apps and small screens. | Y |
| Long Description | 400 characters or less, including spaces. | Y |
| Genre | Pre-defined list provided. Optional field. | N |
| Affiliation | Identifies the owner/producer of the franchise, and should also include the franchise itself. (Ex: Masterpiece will have assigned as its Affiliation: PBS National, Masterpiece) | Y |
| Allow Viral Player Embed | On/Off. The viral player provides up to 20 minutes of a video. When set to "On", this displays an embed icon with the video player, and allows site users to embed the viral player on their own site. | N (Default=On) |
| Additional Data |
| URLs & Social | Section for storing URLs for social sites, and a single, official hashtag. Optional field.
**Do not use the***** Buy DVD***** field. This feature is no longer in use.** | N |
| GA Page Tracking ID
GA Event Tracking ID | Google Analytics IDs | N |
| Exclude From DFP | On/Off. Determines whether or not sponsorship ads will be displayed for associated videos. | Y (Default=On) |
| Funder Message | Optional field. | N |
| Captions required for clips? | On/Off. Sets caption requirement for all child video assets | Y (Default=On) |
| Captions required for previews? | On/Off. Sets caption requirement for all child video assets | Y (Default=On) |
| Franchise Premiere Date | Optional field. Is not surfaced on the front end for PBS products. | N |
| Allow Topics | On/Off. Legacy field, no longer used by PBS front end. (Recommend setting to Off, unless station/producer has specific need for the data.) | Y (Default=N) |
| Images |
| Image | Various profile types available. | N |
| Availability |
| Geo availability | When set at the show level, the assignment cascades to all assets. Available in all countries is the default but most shows are set to US and Territories. | Y (Default=US & Territories) |
| Private | When a franchise is private, it and its child video assets will not be available on any platforms. Private=On is useful for a newly-created franchise, that is not yet ready for the front end.
A franchise and its child shows can have different Private settings. A private franchise will not automatically make its child shows private.
However, if a public franchise is subsequently made private, this change will set all of the franchise extras to be private as well. You can confirm this by looking at the Platform setting for an individual video asset. It will not affect the Private setting for any child shows or assets belonging to child shows. | Y (Default=On) |
| Platforms | Designates the platforms on which your franchise will be available. As of right now, platforms include [pbs.org](http://pbs.org/), Partner Player, Bento, and Station Video Portal. | Y (Default=All Platforms) |
## Core Data
- Most of the fields in the Core Data tab cannot be edited by the Editor role. Editors may change:
- Short descriptions
- Long description
- Genre
- Availability to the [Viral Player](https://pbs-docs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/MM/pages/5344942)
- If you do make changes to the Core Data tab, be sure to click **Save** before leaving the page.
Figure 1
The following items are pre-filled and cannot be edited. You must [contact PBS to request changes](http://digitalsupport.pbs.org/support/tickets/new).
- Title
- Sortable Title
- Slug
- PBS Content ID
- NOLA
- Affiliation
- Created
- Updated
[See the Glossary for field definitions](https://docs.pbs.org/space/MM/5343815/Glossary)
## Additional Data
Additional Data is added to a Franchise in the same way it is added to a show. Please refer to the [Additional Data section on the Show page](https://docs.pbs.org/space/MM/5343796/Shows#Additional-Data) for instructions.
## Images
The images section holds all of the images that are associated with your franchise, including poster images and logos. These images appear on [PBS.org](http://PBS.org), devices such as Apple TV and Roku, and apps.
**[Check out the image specs](https://docs.pbs.org/space/MM/5343808/Image+and+Text+Specs)**** **to determine what image sizes you should use.
> ❌ **Only one type of each image is allowed per franchise; trying to add two of the same type of image will result in an error. **
> ❌
> ❌ > Macro (legacy-content)
### How to add images to your franchise
- Click the** blue Choose button** to browse for an image file on your computer and add it (Figure 1.1).
- Click the** Select Profile dropdown menu** and click the **profile** that is associated with your image (Figure 1.2). Only one profile type is allowed per franchise.
View image types and definitions
| **Profile** | **Description ****(sizes are width x height)** | **Where it appears** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Background | - Dimensions: 1920x1080
- Aspect ratio: 16:9 | |
| Show - Banner | - Size: 1920 pixels wide x 486 pixels high
- File Format: JPEG | - KIDS and [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) Apple TV |
| Show - Black Logo | - Size: 1000 pixels wide x 500 pixels high
- Color: #222222
- File Format: PNG | - Station Video Portal Show Page (upper left corner)
- [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) Mobile
- [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) Windows 10 App |
| Show - White Logo | - Size: 1000 pixels wide x 500 pixels high
- Color: #ffffff
- File Format: PNG | - [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) show page main image
- KIDS over-the-top devices (Roku, etc.)
- [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) Mobile
- [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) Roku |
| Show - Color Logo | - Size: 1000 pixels wide x 500 pixels high
- File Format: PNG | This currently does not surface on PBS products but if you have this image, please add it to Media Manager for possible future use. |
| Show - Mezzanine 16x9 | - Aspect Ratio: 16x9
- Size: Minimum: 720 pixels wide x 405 pixels high; Maximum: 1920 pixels wide x 1080 pixels high
- File Format: JPG or PNG | - PBS KIDS All Shows page
- Apple TV, Roku (PBS Kids)
- KIDS Mobile (Android, iOS)
- Station Video Portal Homepage (Featured Shows and Show Pages)
- Episode pages
- [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) Windows 10 App |
| Show - Poster 2x3 | - Size: 600 pixels wide x 900 pixels high or 2000 pixels wide x 3003 pixels high
- File Format: JPEG | - [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) All Shows, Show carousel, Homepage (Watch Shows), Shows Landing Page, Shows Dropdown, Search Results
- Browse Page (Favorites)
- [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) Windows 10 App
- [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) Mobile (iOS, Android)
- [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) and KIDS Android, Roku |
| Show - Showcase | - Size: 2000 pixels wide x 732 pixels high
- File Format: JPEG | - [PBS.org](http://pbs.org/) and KIDS Apple TV |
| Show - Logo | This image type is available in Media Manager but is not currently being used by PBS products. | N/A |
| Show - Kids 16x9 | | - KIDS ROKU app |
| Show - Kids Channel | | - KIDS Station player |
| Show - Kids Home Page Round | | - KIDS National Video player |
| Show - Kids Icon | | - KIDS show carousel on video app |
| Show - Kids Small Square | | - KIDS Station National Player |
| Show - Kids Video Pages Square | | - KIDS National Video player |
Figure 1
- The file name and profile display (Figure 2.1).
- When finished, click **Save** (Figure 2.2).
> ⚠️ **You must click Save between each image you are adding.**
Figure 2
- When finished, all image links and thumbnails display. To view an image at full size, click the** image URL** (Figure 3).
Figure 3
### How to edit an image
> ❌ **Editing an image simply means replacing it with another image. To edit your original image, open it in an image editing tool, make changes and then upload it to Media Manager.**
- Click the **pencil icon** to the right of the image you want to edit (Figure 1).
- Click the **blue Change button**.
- Select an **image** from your computer.
- The new image displays and the profile carries over from the old image.
- Click **Save**.
- The new image link and thumbnail displays.
Figure 1
### How to delete an image
- Click the **trashcan icon** to the right of the image you want to delete (Figure 1).
Figure 1
- Click **Yes, I'm sure** to delete the image (Figure 2).
Figure 2
## Availability
The Availability section controls user access to PBS videos. Availability is dependent upon geo-location and the platform on which a video is being viewed. Editors can assign the geo-location at the Franchise level but should [submit a support ticket](http://digitalsupport.pbs.org/support/tickets/new) to request platform availability changes. Privacy and Platform permissions can only be assigned by PBS at the Franchise level. Editors can make all Availability assignments on Franchise Extras.
- Click the **Availability tab** (Figure 1.1).
- Click the** Geo Availability dropdown menu** and click the** geographic area where this franchise should be available or not available for viewing** (Figure 1.2). If the geographic area you are looking for is not listed, please [submit a support ticket](http://digitalsupport.pbs.org/support/tickets/new) and specify the area to which you want the franchise to be available or not available.
> ⚠️ **All Geo Availability selections that are not prefaced with "Exclude" include all areas listed. For instance:**
> ⚠️
> ⚠️ - **US & Territories = The object is available in the US & Territories**
> ⚠️ - **Exclude Australia = The object is available everywhere except Australia**
Figure 1
- In the Privacy & Platforms section, click the **toggle to display ON** to prevent your Franchise content from being seen on platforms such as PBS.org. Click the **toggle so that it displays** **OFF** to make your Franchise available for viewing on all platforms (Figure 2).
- When finished, click **Save**.
More about Platforms and Privacy
**Current platforms include:**
1. Bento sites
2. Partner Player
3. PBS.org
4. Station Video Portal
This list will change and expand when PBS platforms and products are full integrated with Media Manager in early 2018.
| **Franchise status** | **What it means** |
| --- | --- |
| ON | The Franchise and all of its associated Extras (clips and previews on the Franchise level) are **not available** on any platform. |
| OFF | The Franchise and all of its associated Extras (clips and previews on the Franchise level) **are available** on the selected (or all) platforms. |
| OFF with All Platforms selected | Franchise **is available** on all Platforms. |
| OFF with at least one Platform selected | Franchise **is** **available only** on the Platform/s selected. |
Figure 2
## Relationships
The Relationships section is where you can keep track of which shows are associated with your franchise, and any producers and distributors affiliated with your franchise's content.
- The Associated Shows section lists all shows that are associated with a particular franchise (Figure 1.1). These assignments are made in the* Associated Franchise *field in the [Core Data tab in a Show](https://docs.pbs.org/space/MM/5343796/Shows#Core-Data). This section provides an easy way to review shows that are associated with a franchise and ties all related to shows to the franchise, which is helpful when people search for a show on PBS.org.
- The* Producers and Distributors* sections provide a place to keep track of all producers and distributors that are or have been associated with your franchise (Figure 1.2). This information is not mandatory and is mainly for your own record keeping. It does not display in the [Media Manager API](https://docs.pbs.org/space/CDA/3047426/Media+Manager+API).
- When you've finished making changes to the Relationships tab, click **Save** (Figure 1.3).
Figure 1
