Wikipedia

Broadcast programming

(Redirected fromTelevision programming)
Not to be confused withRadio program.
"Radio programmer" redirects here. For other uses, seeRadio programming.
"Television programming" redirects here. For the content itself, seeTelevision show.

Broadcast programmingis the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) ofbroadcastmedia shows, typicallyradioandtelevision,in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule.

Modern broadcasters usebroadcast automationto regularly change the scheduling of their shows to build an audience for a new show, retain thataudience,or compete with other broadcasters' shows. Most broadcasttelevision showsare presented weekly inprime timeor daily in other dayparts, though there are many exceptions.

At a micro level, scheduling is the minute planning of the transmission; what to broadcast and when, ensuring an adequate or maximum utilization of airtime. Television scheduling strategies are employed to give shows the best possible chance of attracting and retaining an audience. They are used to deliver shows to audiences when they are most likely to want to watch them and deliver audiences to advertisers in the composition that makes their advertising most likely to be effective.[1]

With the growth of digital platforms and services allowingnon-linear,on-demand access to television content, this approach to broadcasting has since been referred to using theretronymlinear(such aslinear televisionandlinear channels).[2][3][4]

History

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With the beginning of scheduled television in 1936, television programming was initially only concerned with filling a few hours each evening – the hours now known asprime time.Over time, though, television began to be seen during the daytime and late at night, as well on the weekends. As air time increased, so did the demand for new material. With the exception ofsports television,variety shows became much more important in prime time.

Scheduling strategies

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Lead-ins and lead-outs

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Broadcasters may schedule a program to air before or after a widely viewedtent-poleprogram, such as a popular series, or a special such as a high-profilesporting event(such as, in the United States, theSuper Bowl), in the hope thataudience flowwill encourage the audience to tune-in early or stay for the second program. The second program is usually one that the broadcaster wants to promote to a wider audience, such as a new or lower-profile series.[5][6]Sometimes, a lower-profile program may be scheduled between two tentpole programs, a technique known ashammocking.

Lead-outs can sometimes help to launch new programs and talent; in 1982, NBC premieredLate Night with David Lettermanas a lead-out for its long-runninglate-night talk showThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.Characterized by an off-beat style appealing to young adults,Late Nighthelped launch the career of hostDavid Letterman,and influence later entries into the genre. Despite Carson's endorsement of Letterman as a successor following his 1992 retirement, NBC choseJay Lenoinstead, and Letterman departed forCBSto host a spiritual successor—Late Show with David Letterman—beginning in the 1993–94 season.Late Nightwould continue as a franchise with hosts such asConan O'BrienandJimmy Fallon—both of whom would later go on to hostThe Tonight Show.[7][8][9]

The same season,FoxscheduledThe X-Filesas a lead-out for itssci-fi westernThe Adventures of Brisco County Jr.,with the expectation thatBrisco County Jr.would serve as the anchor of its Friday-night lineup. However,The X-Filesproved to be significantly more successful, and would eventually run for nine seasons. By contrast, viewership forBrisco County Jr.declined throughout the season, and the show was cancelled.[10][11][12][13]Fox attempted to use other sci-fi shows as a lead-in forThe X-Files(such asSlidersandVR.5), but they were similarly unsuccessful.[14][15][16]

A weak lead-in can have an impact on the viewership of programs that follow; NBC's 2009 attempt tostripthe talk showThe Jay Leno Show(a spiritual successor to Leno's tenure ofThe Tonight Showafter Conan O'Briensucceededhim) in a 10:00 p.m. ET/PT timeslot proved detrimental to the viewership of late local newscasts on its affiliates.[17][18]NBC subsequently announced plans to shortenThe Jay Leno Showto a half hour and move it to 11:35 p.m. ET/PT in late-February 2010, displacingThe Tonight Showfrom its traditional timeslot. This proposal led to apublic conflict between O'Brien and NBC,and ultimately resulted in his departure from the network, and the reinstatement of Jay Leno as host ofThe Tonight Show.[19][20]

Blocks

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Main article:Block programming

Block programmingis the practice of scheduling a group of complementary programs together. Blocks are typically built around specific genres (i.e. a block focusing specifically onsitcoms), target audiences, or other factors, with their programming often promoted collectively under blanket titles (such asABC's "TGIF"lineup andNBC's "Must See TV").

Bridging

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Bridgingis the practice of discouraging the audience from changing channels during the "junctions" between specific programs. This can be done, primarily, by airing promos for the next program near the end of the preceding program, such as during its credits,[21]or reducing the length of the junction between two programs as much as possible (hot switching). The host of the next program may similarly make a brief appearance near the end of the preceding program (sometimes interacting directly with the host) to provide a preview; innews broadcasting,this is typically referred to as a "throw" or "toss".[22]

A bridge was used byABCbetweenRoseanneand the December 1992 series premiere ofThe Jackie Thomas Show,a new sitcom co-created byRoseanneandTom ArnoldofRoseannefame. A scene of the Connor family watching its opening on TV seamlessly transitioned into the program itself, with no junction in between. ABC commissioned a minute-by-minute Nielsen ratings report, which showed that the majority of viewers fromRoseannehad been retained during the premiere.[23][24]

Owing to both programs'news comedyformats, theComedy CentralprogramThe Daily Showused newscast-style toss segments to promote its new spin-off and lead-out,The Colbert Report,in which hostJon Stewartwould engage in a comedic conversation with the latter's host,Stephen Colbert,viasplit-screen.[22]On the December 18, 2014 episode ofThe Daily Show,this segment was used to seamlessly segue into theseries finaleofThe Colbert Report.At its conclusion, the show transitioned back to Stewart (giving the impression that the entireColbert Reportepisode was merely a segment ofThe Daily Show),who concluded his show with its traditional closing segment "Your Moment of Zen"(which featured an outtake from a previous toss segment) as normal.[25][26]

In some cases, a channel may intentionally allow a program to overrun into the next half-hour timeslot rather than end exactly on the half-hour, in order to discourage viewers from"surfing" awayat traditional junction periods (since they had missed the beginnings of programs on other channels already). This can, however, cause disruptions with recorders if they are not aware of the scheduling (typically,digital video recorderscan be configured to automatically record for a set length of time before and after a schedule's given timeslot inprogram guidedata to account for possible variances).[27][28]For a period,TBSintentionally scheduled all of its programs at 5 and 35 minutes past the hour rather than exactly on the half hour (a practice it marketed as "Turner Time" ), to attract viewers tuning away from other channels.[29]

Crossovers

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Main article:Crossover (fiction)

Crossoverscan be organized between multiple programs, in which a single storyline is extended across episodes of two or more separate programs. Typically, these involve programs that form a single franchise orshared universe,such as NBC'sChicagofranchise andLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit(all created byDick Wolf),[30]and theABCdramasGrey's AnatomyandStation 19(both created byShonda Rhimes).[31]

Counterprogramming

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Main article:Counterprogramming (television)

Counterprogrammingis the practice of deliberately scheduling programming to attract viewers away from another, major program. Counterprogramming efforts often involve scheduling a contrasting program of a different genre or demographic, targeting viewers who may not be interested in the major program (such as a sporting event, which typically draws a predominantly-male audience, against an awards show that attracts a predominantly-female audience).[32][33]Despite frequently being among the top U.S. television broadcasts of all time, theSuper Bowlhas had a prominent history of beingcounterprogrammedin this manner. One of the most prominent examples of this practice wasFox's1992airing of a special live episode ofIn Living Coloragainst the game'shalftime show.[34][35]

Programs can also be counterprogrammed by a direct competitor in the same time slot, often resulting in the two programs attempting to attract viewers away from each other throughpublicity stuntsand other tactics; these tactics have most notably been seen in counterprogramming efforts surroundingprofessional wrestling,including theMonday Night WarandWednesday Night Wars.[36][37][38]

In some cases, broadcasters may attempt to adjust their schedules in order to avert attempts at counterprogramming, such as getting a slightly earlier time slot (in the hope that once viewers have become committed to a show they will not switch channels),[39][40]scheduling the competing program on a different night, or moving it to a different portion of the television season to avoid competition altogether.[39][40]

Dayparting

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Main article:Dayparting

Daypartingis the practice of dividing thedayinto several parts, during each of which a different type program is appropriate for that time is aired.Daytime televisionshows are most often geared toward a particulardemographic,and what thetarget audiencetypically engages in at that time.

Stripping

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Main article:Strip programming

Strippingis the practice of running a single series in a consistent, daily time slot throughout the week, usually on weekdays. Daytime programs such as talk shows,court shows,game shows,andsoap operas,are typically aired in a strip format. Outside of serial drama formats such astelenovelaswhere popular, strips are rarely used for first-run entertainment programming outside of limitedevents.

Syndicated reruns of network programs that originally aired on a weekly basis are often aired as strips. Shows that are syndicated in this way generally have to have run for several seasons (the rule of thumb is usually100 episodes) in order to have enough episodes to run without significantrepeats.

Marathons

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Main article:Marathon (media)

Amarathonis the scheduling of a continuous, long-term block of programming as an event, usually devoted to airings of a single program or film franchise. When conducted using television series, a marathon may either consist of episodes aired in sequential order, or focus on episodes sharing specific themes.

Marathons are often aired on holidays (such asSyfy's annualThe Twilight Zonemarathon onNew Year's Day),[41]as counterprogramming for major events airing on other channels (such as the Super Bowl in the U.S.),[42]to lead into new episodes of a series, or to commemorate milestones/events surrounding a specific series or franchise.[43][44][45]Some marathons may focus on the roles of a specific entertainer; the death ofBetty Whiteresulted in several networks scheduling marathons of programming on or around January 17, 2022 (which would have been White's 100th birthday) featuring her television appearances, with Hallmark Channel airing a marathon ofThe Golden Girls,andBuzzrandGame Show Networkairing marathons ofgame showepisodes that featured White as a celebrity guest.[43]

While longer marathons are typically reserved for major events, the popularization ofbinge-watchingvia streaming services in the 2010s led to many U.S. cable networks adopting marathon-like blocks of programs as part of their regular schedules.[46][47]To compete with the release practices of streaming services,TBSpremiered entire seasons of itspolicecomedyAngie Tribecain a marathon format.[48][49]Similarly,free ad-supported streaming television(FAST) services often feature narrowly-focused linear channels devoted to specific programs or franchises.[50]

Theming

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A broadcaster may temporarily dedicate all or parts of its schedule over a period of time to a specific theme. A well-known instance of a themed lineup isDiscovery Channel's annual "Shark Week".[51]Themed schedules are a common practice around majorholidays—such asValentine's Day,Halloween,andChristmas—where channels may air episodes of programs,specials,and films that relate to the holiday. Channels may also air marathons of their signature programs and film rights to target viewers who are on vacation.

The U.S. basic cable networksFreeform(25 Days of Christmas,31 Days of Halloween) andHallmark Channelare known for broadcasting long-term holiday programming events. After experiencing success with holiday events such asCountdown to Christmas,Hallmark Channel adopted a practice of dividing its programming into themed seasons year-round, which are accompanied by thematically appropriateoriginal made-for-TV filmsand series. This strategy is part of an effort to position the channel as "a year-round destination for celebrations", and is synergistic withHallmark Cards' coregreeting cardand collectibles businesses.[52][53][54][55]

Time slot

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A show'stime slotor place in the schedule could be crucial to its success or failure; generally, earlier prime time slots have a stronger appeal towards family viewing and younger demographics, while later time slots generally appeal more towards older demographics. Some time slots, colloquially known as "graveyard slots"or" death slots ", are prone to having smaller potential audiences (with one such example in the U.S. beingFriday nights),[56]or insurmountable competition from highly rated series.[57][58]

See also

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References

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  2. ^Andreeva, Nellie (2019-02-12)."Brett Weitz On TNT & TBS' Future, No" Dark, Depressing Dramas "& More Unscripted On TNT".Deadline.Retrieved2019-05-14.
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  39. ^abPlunkett, John (April 3, 2013)."The Voice v Britain's Got Talent: scheduling wars recommence".The Guardian.RetrievedNovember 13,2017.
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  49. ^Williams, Katy (November 5, 2015)."Entire First Season of Angie Tribeca to Debut Via Marathon; Season 2 Ordered".IGN.J2 Global.RetrievedNovember 8,2015.
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  51. ^Fetters, Ashley (August 13, 2012)."The Evolution of Shark Week, Pop-Culture Leviathan".The Atlantic.RetrievedAugust 3,2013.
  52. ^Petski, Denise (2019-04-08)."Leah Renee, Chris McNally, Dan Jeannotte, Nathan Parsons & More Cast In Hallmark Channel's 'Countdown To Summer' Movie Event".Deadline.Retrieved2019-04-29.
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