Effects of time on North American broadcasting
Encyclopedia
The scheduling of television program
ming in North America
must cope with a continent spanning ten time zone
s: the United States
(excluding territories) has six time zones (Hawaii-Aleutian
, Alaska
, Pacific
, Mountain
, Central and Eastern
), Canada
also has six (Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland), Mexico
has three (Pacific, Mountain and Central), Greenland
also has three (Atlantic, UTC−03 and UTC−01; UTC−02 is not used). This requires broadcast and cable television
networks in each country to time-shift programs shown in different regions.
and CTV
created delay centres in Calgary
in the early 1960s in order to allow programming to air in each time zone based on the region. The sole exception is in Newfoundland, which has a time zone oddity of running a half-hour later than the nearby Maritimes
region. This is particularly a problem in Saskatchewan
as most of the province does not use daylight saving time
and remains on Central Standard Time year-round. While Saskatchewan, Manitoba and parts of northwestern Ontario share the same clock setting during the winter season, Saskatchewan and Alberta
share the same clock setting during the summer season, despite the fact that Alberta is in the Mountain Time Zone. Schedules must be adjusted for the summer season (some changes to schedules are also due to the preference for showing U.S. programs at the same time as US stations, which maintains Canadian broadcasters' right of simultaneous substitution
).
A small number of Canadian television networks are not broadcast to a national audience such as over-the-air networks A and Citytv
, which air in only a few markets and do not air in the Yukon
, Nunavut
and Northwest Territories
and premium cable channels Movie Central
and The Movie Network
, which air in separate areas of Canada (Movie Central in the Territories and Western Canada and The Movie Network in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada). Canadian channels operating in this manner often negate the use of timeshifting as they only cover a few time zones instead of serving all six time zones that serve the country. However, the majority of specialty cable channels in Canada serve all time zones, with the minor exception of French-language services that often are available solely in predominately French-speaking regions such as Quebec. The French countpart of CBC
, Radio-Canada
, have four feeds to allow programs to air at the same time, local time in each the zone except for the Atlantic time zone who have programs at the same time of the Eastern zone but an hour later for them (eg. 20h00 HE/21h00 HA), and it's the same thing for Newfoundland but with an hour and a half difference with Eastern time.
as the settlement and its surrounding area whole state uses UTC−01 Standard Time Zone, both time zones observes daylight saving time
and observes European Union
DST rules. The UTC−02 Standard Time Zone is not use in the country.
The UTC−04 Standard Time Zone is used in northwestern Greenland, area around Thule Air Base
observes North American DST rules, known in Canada as the Atlantic Time Zone and in the Caribbean as the "Eastern Caribbean Time Zone".
as the whole state does not use daylight saving time
and remains on Mountain Standard Time year-round (this matches the practice of Arizona
, with which it shares a long border). The low populated Revillagigedo Islands
does not use daylight saving time
and remains on Mountain Standard Time year-round, with the minor exception of Clarion Island
which remains in the Pacific Standard Time year-round.
When the U.S. extended its daylight time period in 2007
, Mexico did not change its effective dates. This means that in most of the country, daylight time starts three or four weeks later and ends one week earlier than in the U.S. and Canada. However, the northern border cities in four of the six states that border on the U.S. (Chihuahua, Coahuila
, Nuevo León
, and Tamaulipas
), plus the entire state of Baja California
, activate daylight saving time on the same dates as the U.S. and Canada. During the period when the U.S. and Canada are on daylight saving time and most of Mexico is not:
, U.S. national networks and cable channels generally air at least two separate feeds to its stations and affiliates: the "east feed" that is aired simultaneously in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, and the "west feed" that is tape-delayed three hours for those in the Pacific Time Zone. This ensures that a program, for example, that airs at 8 p.m. on the east coast is also shown locally at 8 p.m. on the west coast. Networks may also air a third feed specifically for the Mountain Time Zone, which usually airs on a one-hour delay from the east feed; otherwise those in the Mountain Time Zone get the west feed.
The Eastern Time Zone is commonly used as a de facto official time for the United States, since it includes the nation's capital Washington, D.C.
, the country's largest city, New York
, and approximately half of the country's population. Because of this, television schedules are almost always posted in Eastern Time. Broadcast networks and cable channels also advertise airtimes
in Eastern time, sometimes also including either Central or Pacific time and until the 1980s, Mountain time, depending on whether there is a separate feed for that time zone. This has led to conventions like "tonight at 9/8 Central" (referring to the east feed), "tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific" (referring to both the east feed and the three-hour delayed west feed), and "tonight at 9/8 Central and Mountain" (also including the Mountain feed).
A few cable channels may not audibly refer to the Central time airtime of a program, though their promos may also visually include references to its broadcast in both the Eastern and Central time zones. So when a viewer only hears "tonight at 8," regardless of whether the promo visually includes it or not, chances are that the show they are referring to is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. in the Central time zone.
, The CW and the MyNetworkTV
program service subtract an hour for their primetime schedules as they end their primetime earlier than NBC
, CBS
and ABC
.
For some shows, the networks must utilize a fourth feed for the Central Time Zone. Morning shows like Good Morning America
, Today and The Early Show
may start too early for viewers in the Midwest
and the central South; hence, they are tape-delayed to air at 7 a.m. Central. In another example, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, which airs every New Year's Eve
, must be broadcast so that the show is correlated to when midnight strikes in every time zone.
Network programming in Alaska
generally follows a schedule similar to that of Central Time Zone, with stations in Anchorage
broadcasting directly from the west coast feed without tape delay. Programs that air at 8 p.m. Pacific will air at 7 p.m. in Anchorage and Juneau. With the exception of ABC affiliate KATN
, network programming in Fairbanks
is tape-delayed by one hour. Hawaii
also follows a schedule similar to the Central Time Zone, though Fox affiliate KHON-TV
and its satellites air the network's Sunday programming on a one-hour tape delay, airing from 7-10 p.m. instead of 6-9 p.m.
The territory of Guam
, which is on the other side of the International Date Line
than the rest of the United States, airs primetime shows, network newscasts and morning shows the day after they air in the U.S. off a satellite feed
. However, sports events air live; those that air in the daytime in the U.S. show overnight in Guam, while NBC Sunday Night Football
, the World Series
, and other primetime telecasts air the next morning, typically at 9 or 10 a.m. The only network affiliate in American Samoa
, KKHJ-LP, airs the west coast feed on a three-hour delay. (Details for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are in the next section below.)
Not all network programming is strictly scheduled, however. Network soap operas, game shows, and national news program
s have recommended times to air, but the final scheduling for those shows is most often at the discretion of the local stations.
or satellite
TV, subscribers may still only receive the East Coast Feed for certain channels despite the fact that they may reside on the West Coast. Some cable channels may in fact only offer one feed to begin with, meaning viewers see the same program in all time zones; for example, when cable superstation WGN America airs the 9 p.m. CT newscast from WGN-TV
in Chicago
, it also airs at 10 p.m. ET in Washington, D.C.
and 7 p.m. PT in San Francisco. On the other hand, some providers may offer both the East and West coast feeds of some basic cable channels for viewing in all time zones, allowing viewers who missed a particular program to watch it three hours earlier or later depending on the time zone they live in.
Nickelodeon is the only basic cable channel that airs feeds from both coasts to viewers who do not subscribe to satellite television
, as that channel carries a feed called Nick 2 (whose name is no longer used on-air), which is essentially the opposite coast's feed of Nickelodeon (the Pacific feed for East Coast viewers, and vice versa) to digital cable subscribers; while the main feed of the channel for the respective time zone is carried on the local cable provider's basic package. The usage of dual feeds of the same channel is a commonplace method for premium channels such as HBO, Showtime and Starz, in which the west coast feed of (usually only) the primary channel is packaged with the east coast feed of the main channel and the pay service's multiplex channels (if the premium channel has any).
, presidential and Congressional election coverage, and the Academy Awards
. For such events the networks may either advertise Eastern time only, or list the times in both Eastern and Pacific (e.g. "8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific").
However, many award shows, most Olympic
competitions, and other similar events that are broadcast live in the Eastern and Central time zones, including some that originate from Los Angeles
such as the Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards, Dancing with the Stars, and the final rounds of American Idol
, may be tape-delayed in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. The practice of tape delay is due to the potentially higher West Coast viewership during primetime hours.
News channels such as CNN
and sports channels such as ESPN
that frequently broadcast live events offer a single feed that airs in all time zones.
s must schedule their local and syndicated
programming around their respective network's feed. Because the primetime East Coast Feed is simulcast in two times zones, it affects stations in the Central Time Zone differently than those in the Eastern Time Zone.
An hour of syndicated programming time (between 7 and 8 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone) is lost in the Central time zone (as well as the Mountain time zone) since network primetime there starts at 7 p.m., forcing those stations to choose between airing their 6 p.m. newscast and a program, or airing shows in 'blocks' preferred by syndicators (for example, Wheel of Fortune
and Jeopardy!
together, or Entertainment Tonight
and The Insider
); the most common set of programming chosen by the Big Three television networks
(ABC, CBS, and NBC) is to air a newscast at 5 p.m., national news at 5:30 p.m., local news at 6 p.m., and syndicated programming at 6:30 p.m., though some Fox stations that carry a Big Three-style news schedule (commonly stations that were former Big Three affiliates themselves) carry a 60- or 90-minute block of news from 5-6 (or 6:30) p.m. with an additional half-hour of local news in the 5:30 p.m. timeslot since Fox has yet to carry a national evening newscast. Some Big Three affiliates in the Eastern and Pacific time zones follow this early evening newscast model as well, running a 90-minute block of news from 5-6:30 p.m., particularly if they run a network's national evening newscast at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT. Some stations, regardless of time zone, even show a newscast from 6-7 p.m., which if run on a network station in the Central or Mountain time zones would lead into primetime network programming. Some television stations (e.g., WKYC and WJW-TV in Cleveland, WACH
in Columbia, SC) have recently begun using the fact that primetime in the Eastern time zone begins at 8 p.m. to their advantage by carrying a newscast during the 7 p.m. hour, generally due to attract viewers who work longer days and cannot return home to watch a 5 or 6 p.m. newscast.
Many stations that do not carry a newscast in the 6 p.m. time slot in the Central time zone, commonly affiliates of non-historical networks like Fox (though some Fox stations air a 6 p.m. newscast, though this is not entirely common as of yet), The CW and MyNetworkTV, air situation comedies during that hour. Many stations in the Central Time Zone tend to air one or both parts of the syndicated block at 5 p.m. or even earlier. Another more recent dilemma of the 7 p.m. primetime start is that a combination of longer commutes and work hours than in the past have caused many people to not come home from work until after 7 p.m., cutting into the potential ratings of shows that start at this time. Of course, the reverse is also true, as simultaneous broadcasts offer viewers the chance to watch "prime time television" without having to stay awake until 11 p.m.
In the case of the CBS
soap opera
The Young and the Restless
, the network airs it at 12:30 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone following a local news break and recommends that stations in other time zones air it at 11:30 a.m. However, most stations in the Central Time Zone choose to run it at 11 a.m. (after The Price Is Right
) and then followed by a local newscast at noon. Few CBS stations in the Central time zone run Y&R at 11:30, among them CBS owned-and-operated stations
WBBM-TV
(channel 2) in Chicago
and KTVT
(channel 11) in Dallas-Fort Worth
. For this reason, neither The Price Is Right or Y&R has an announcement to stay tuned for the next program, though most daytime shows do not have a program announcement for other daytime shows anyway.
Local programming
and television news are not typically affected as many stations air the morning newscast at 4:30, 5 or 5:30 a.m., and the early evening newscasts at 5 and/or 6 p.m., the late evening newscast is affected due to the differences in time between time zones, meaning that if the late local news starts at 10 p.m. Central time on one network station, an affiliate of the same network in the Eastern time zone airs theirs at 11 p.m., the late night program lineups on NBC, ABC and CBS are also similarly timeshifted airing a half-hour later. Many Fox, CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates and some independent stations carry a prime time
newscast that is similarly affected by the timeshifting of the primetime schdule, meaning that if the primetime local news starts at 9 p.m. Mountain time on one network station, an affiliate of the same network in the Pacific time zone would air theirs at 10 p.m. Similarly, media coverage of New Year's Eve
celebrations in New York City
often leave the Central Time Zone out. Late Night with Conan O'Brien
, though produced in New York, when broadcast on New Year's Eve took advantage of its later time slot (11:37 p.m. Central time) to lampoon this inconsistency and produce its own New Year's
countdown for television
viewers in the Central Time Zone, although most Central Time local network affiliates usually broadcast Conan after covering their own regional New Year's Eve celebrations. In some locations, New York's New Year's Eve celebration might be repeated or delayed one hour to correspond to the Central Time zone.
Since late 2009, PBS
has begun using servers instead of separate feeds for time delaying of its programming to the network's member stations. The servers imitate a delayed program feed, broadcasting the program at the correct airtime as if it were being broadcast via satellite. This was needed due to PBS having upgraded its main program feed to high-definition (or to widescreen digital at the very least) in December 2008, but satellite capacity allowed for only two feeds of the schedule, Eastern and Pacific, prompting the removal of the feeds for the Central and Mountain time zones and a shared feed for Alaska and Pacific time zones in February 2009, which created complaints from PBS stations.
National live events that are simulcast across the country also present special problems for local stations. A live Sunday sporting event that is played from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time preempts local 6 p.m. newscasts on the East Coast. Likewise, a State of the Union address
that is televised at 9 p.m. Eastern Time preempts local 6 p.m. newscasts on the West Coast.
, leading to the following changes:
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
must cope with a continent spanning ten time zone
Time zone
A time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
s: the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(excluding territories) has six time zones (Hawaii-Aleutian
Hawaii-Aleutian time zone
The Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone observes Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time , by subtracting ten hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 150th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory....
, Alaska
Alaska Time Zone
The Alaska Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting nine hours from Coordinated Universal Time . During daylight saving time its time offset is only eight hours . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 135th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory.The zone...
, Pacific
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
, Mountain
Mountain Time Zone
The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time, during the shortest days of autumn and winter , and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time in the spring, summer, and early autumn...
, Central and Eastern
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
), Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
also has six (Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland), Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
has three (Pacific, Mountain and Central), Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
also has three (Atlantic, UTC−03 and UTC−01; UTC−02 is not used). This requires broadcast and cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
networks in each country to time-shift programs shown in different regions.
Canada
Canadian broadcasting networks, with six time zones and a difference of 5½ hours to span and a much larger percentage of its audience residing in the Mountain Time Zone than in the Central Time Zone, are sometimes able to avoid the issues that affect U.S. programming by airing prerecorded programs on local time. CBCCBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
and CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
created delay centres in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
in the early 1960s in order to allow programming to air in each time zone based on the region. The sole exception is in Newfoundland, which has a time zone oddity of running a half-hour later than the nearby Maritimes
Maritimes
The Maritime provinces, also called the Maritimes or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. On the Atlantic coast, the Maritimes are a subregion of Atlantic Canada, which also includes the...
region. This is particularly a problem in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
as most of the province does not use daylight saving time
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
and remains on Central Standard Time year-round. While Saskatchewan, Manitoba and parts of northwestern Ontario share the same clock setting during the winter season, Saskatchewan and Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
share the same clock setting during the summer season, despite the fact that Alberta is in the Mountain Time Zone. Schedules must be adjusted for the summer season (some changes to schedules are also due to the preference for showing U.S. programs at the same time as US stations, which maintains Canadian broadcasters' right of simultaneous substitution
Simultaneous substitution
Simultaneous substitution is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requiring Canadian cable, direct broadcast satellite and multichannel multipoint distribution service television distribution companies to substitute the signal of a foreign or...
).
A small number of Canadian television networks are not broadcast to a national audience such as over-the-air networks A and Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
, which air in only a few markets and do not air in the Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
, Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
and Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
and premium cable channels Movie Central
Movie Central
Movie Central is a Canadian English language Category A premium television service. Movie Central is designated to operate west of the Ontario-Manitoba border, including the territories...
and The Movie Network
The Movie Network
The Movie Network is a Canadian English language Category A premium television service, owned by Astral Media. The service is licensed to operate east of the Ontario-Manitoba border, excluding the territories...
, which air in separate areas of Canada (Movie Central in the Territories and Western Canada and The Movie Network in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada). Canadian channels operating in this manner often negate the use of timeshifting as they only cover a few time zones instead of serving all six time zones that serve the country. However, the majority of specialty cable channels in Canada serve all time zones, with the minor exception of French-language services that often are available solely in predominately French-speaking regions such as Quebec. The French countpart of CBC
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
, Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
, have four feeds to allow programs to air at the same time, local time in each the zone except for the Atlantic time zone who have programs at the same time of the Eastern zone but an hour later for them (eg. 20h00 HE/21h00 HA), and it's the same thing for Newfoundland but with an hour and a half difference with Eastern time.
Greenland
The UTC−03 Standard Time Zone is commonly used as a sort of de facto official time for the Greenlander main broadcasting station, with three time zones and a difference of four hours to span and a much larger percentage of the island population residing in this Time Zone than in the western and eastern exceptions, are sometimes able to avoid these issues by airing programs on this time. This is particularly a problem in the eastern town of IttoqqortoormiitIttoqqortoormiit
Ittoqqortoormiit is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. Its population is 469 as of 2010.The Danish name Scoresbysund derives from the name of the Arctic explorer and whaler William Scoresby, who was the first to map the area in 1822. The Greenlandic name...
as the settlement and its surrounding area whole state uses UTC−01 Standard Time Zone, both time zones observes daylight saving time
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
and observes European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
DST rules. The UTC−02 Standard Time Zone is not use in the country.
The UTC−04 Standard Time Zone is used in northwestern Greenland, area around Thule Air Base
Thule Air Base
Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located north of the Arctic Circle and from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland. It is approximately east of the North Magnetic Pole.-Overview:Thule Air Base is the...
observes North American DST rules, known in Canada as the Atlantic Time Zone and in the Caribbean as the "Eastern Caribbean Time Zone".
Mexico
The Central Time Zone is commonly used as a sort of de facto official time for the Mexican broadcasting networks, with three time zones and a difference of three hours to span and a much larger percentage of its audience residing in the Central Time Zone than in the Mountain Time Zone, are sometimes able to avoid these issues by airing programs on Central time. This is particularly a problem in SonoraSonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
as the whole state does not use daylight saving time
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
and remains on Mountain Standard Time year-round (this matches the practice of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, with which it shares a long border). The low populated Revillagigedo Islands
Revillagigedo Islands
The Revillagigedo Islands or Revillagigedo Archipelago are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem...
does not use daylight saving time
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
and remains on Mountain Standard Time year-round, with the minor exception of Clarion Island
Clarion Island
Isla Clarión, formerly called Santa Rosa, is the second largest, westernmost and most remote of the Revillagigedo Islands, west of Socorro Island and over from the Mexican mainland and an area ². It has three prominent peaks. The westernmost and tallest peak, Monte Gallegos, is high...
which remains in the Pacific Standard Time year-round.
When the U.S. extended its daylight time period in 2007
Energy Policy Act of 2005
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a bill passed by the United States Congress on July 29, 2005, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico...
, Mexico did not change its effective dates. This means that in most of the country, daylight time starts three or four weeks later and ends one week earlier than in the U.S. and Canada. However, the northern border cities in four of the six states that border on the U.S. (Chihuahua, Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
, Nuevo León
Nuevo León
Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
, and Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...
), plus the entire state of Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
, activate daylight saving time on the same dates as the U.S. and Canada. During the period when the U.S. and Canada are on daylight saving time and most of Mexico is not:
- Baja California is one hour behind Mexico City.
- The northern border cities of Chihuahua have the same time as Mexico City.
- Northern border cities in Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas are one hour ahead of Mexico City.
Overview
With four time zones in the contiguous United StatesContiguous United States
The contiguous United States are the 48 U.S. states on the continent of North America that are south of Canada and north of Mexico, plus the District of Columbia....
, U.S. national networks and cable channels generally air at least two separate feeds to its stations and affiliates: the "east feed" that is aired simultaneously in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, and the "west feed" that is tape-delayed three hours for those in the Pacific Time Zone. This ensures that a program, for example, that airs at 8 p.m. on the east coast is also shown locally at 8 p.m. on the west coast. Networks may also air a third feed specifically for the Mountain Time Zone, which usually airs on a one-hour delay from the east feed; otherwise those in the Mountain Time Zone get the west feed.
The Eastern Time Zone is commonly used as a de facto official time for the United States, since it includes the nation's capital Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the country's largest city, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and approximately half of the country's population. Because of this, television schedules are almost always posted in Eastern Time. Broadcast networks and cable channels also advertise airtimes
Promo (media)
A promo, shorthand for promotion, are a form of commercial advertising used in broadcast media, either television or radio; promos are generally used to promote a program airing on a television station, radio station, television network or radio network.-Background:Promos typically run a standard...
in Eastern time, sometimes also including either Central or Pacific time and until the 1980s, Mountain time, depending on whether there is a separate feed for that time zone. This has led to conventions like "tonight at 9/8 Central" (referring to the east feed), "tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific" (referring to both the east feed and the three-hour delayed west feed), and "tonight at 9/8 Central and Mountain" (also including the Mountain feed).
A few cable channels may not audibly refer to the Central time airtime of a program, though their promos may also visually include references to its broadcast in both the Eastern and Central time zones. So when a viewer only hears "tonight at 8," regardless of whether the promo visually includes it or not, chances are that the show they are referring to is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. in the Central time zone.
Terrestrial television
Effectively, the East, Mountain, and West feeds allow primetime on the terrestrial TV networks to end at 10 p.m. Central and Mountain and 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, though FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, The CW and the MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
program service subtract an hour for their primetime schedules as they end their primetime earlier than NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
.
For some shows, the networks must utilize a fourth feed for the Central Time Zone. Morning shows like Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, Today and The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
may start too early for viewers in the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
and the central South; hence, they are tape-delayed to air at 7 a.m. Central. In another example, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, which airs every New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
, must be broadcast so that the show is correlated to when midnight strikes in every time zone.
Network programming in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
generally follows a schedule similar to that of Central Time Zone, with stations in Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
broadcasting directly from the west coast feed without tape delay. Programs that air at 8 p.m. Pacific will air at 7 p.m. in Anchorage and Juneau. With the exception of ABC affiliate KATN
KATN
KATN, virtual channel 2 , is the ABC-affiliated television station in Fairbanks, Alaska. The station is owned by Vision Alaska LLC.-Digital television:-History:...
, network programming in Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
is tape-delayed by one hour. Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
also follows a schedule similar to the Central Time Zone, though Fox affiliate KHON-TV
KHON-TV
KHON-TV is a Fox-affiliated television station in Honolulu, Hawaii. The station broadcasts on virtual channel 2.In addition to its Honolulu broadcast facilities, KHON has relays on all the major Hawaiian Islands to rebroadcast programs outside of metropolitan Honolulu: KHAW-TV in Hilo; KAII-TV in...
and its satellites air the network's Sunday programming on a one-hour tape delay, airing from 7-10 p.m. instead of 6-9 p.m.
The territory of Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, which is on the other side of the International Date Line
International Date Line
The International Date Line is a generally north-south imaginary line on the surface of the Earth, passing through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that designates the place where each calendar day begins...
than the rest of the United States, airs primetime shows, network newscasts and morning shows the day after they air in the U.S. off a satellite feed
Uplink
A telecommunications link is generally one of several types of information transmission paths such as those provided by communication satellites to connect two points on earth.-Uplink:...
. However, sports events air live; those that air in the daytime in the U.S. show overnight in Guam, while NBC Sunday Night Football
NBC Sunday Night Football
NBC Sunday Night Football is a weekly television broadcast of Sunday evening National Football League games on NBC that began airing on Sunday, August 6, 2006 with the pre-season opening Hall of Fame Game. Al Michaels serves as the play-by-play announcer, with Cris Collinsworth as the color...
, the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
, and other primetime telecasts air the next morning, typically at 9 or 10 a.m. The only network affiliate in American Samoa
American Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...
, KKHJ-LP, airs the west coast feed on a three-hour delay. (Details for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are in the next section below.)
Not all network programming is strictly scheduled, however. Network soap operas, game shows, and national news program
News program
A news program, news programme, news show, or newscast is a regularly scheduled radio or television program that reports current events. News is typically reported in a series of individual stories that are presented by one or more anchors...
s have recommended times to air, but the final scheduling for those shows is most often at the discretion of the local stations.
Cable and satellite television
For those with cableCable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
or satellite
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
TV, subscribers may still only receive the East Coast Feed for certain channels despite the fact that they may reside on the West Coast. Some cable channels may in fact only offer one feed to begin with, meaning viewers see the same program in all time zones; for example, when cable superstation WGN America airs the 9 p.m. CT newscast from WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, it also airs at 10 p.m. ET in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and 7 p.m. PT in San Francisco. On the other hand, some providers may offer both the East and West coast feeds of some basic cable channels for viewing in all time zones, allowing viewers who missed a particular program to watch it three hours earlier or later depending on the time zone they live in.
Nickelodeon is the only basic cable channel that airs feeds from both coasts to viewers who do not subscribe to satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
, as that channel carries a feed called Nick 2 (whose name is no longer used on-air), which is essentially the opposite coast's feed of Nickelodeon (the Pacific feed for East Coast viewers, and vice versa) to digital cable subscribers; while the main feed of the channel for the respective time zone is carried on the local cable provider's basic package. The usage of dual feeds of the same channel is a commonplace method for premium channels such as HBO, Showtime and Starz, in which the west coast feed of (usually only) the primary channel is packaged with the east coast feed of the main channel and the pay service's multiplex channels (if the premium channel has any).
Live events
Many live events are broadcast simultaneously nationwide, including most sporting events, national breaking news stories, the State of the Union addressState of the Union Address
The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and his national priorities.The practice arises...
, presidential and Congressional election coverage, and the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
. For such events the networks may either advertise Eastern time only, or list the times in both Eastern and Pacific (e.g. "8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific").
However, many award shows, most Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
competitions, and other similar events that are broadcast live in the Eastern and Central time zones, including some that originate from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
such as the Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards, Dancing with the Stars, and the final rounds of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
, may be tape-delayed in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. The practice of tape delay is due to the potentially higher West Coast viewership during primetime hours.
News channels such as CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and sports channels such as ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
that frequently broadcast live events offer a single feed that airs in all time zones.
General
Local stations and affiliateAffiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
s must schedule their local and syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming around their respective network's feed. Because the primetime East Coast Feed is simulcast in two times zones, it affects stations in the Central Time Zone differently than those in the Eastern Time Zone.
An hour of syndicated programming time (between 7 and 8 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone) is lost in the Central time zone (as well as the Mountain time zone) since network primetime there starts at 7 p.m., forcing those stations to choose between airing their 6 p.m. newscast and a program, or airing shows in 'blocks' preferred by syndicators (for example, Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
and Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
together, or Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
and The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...
); the most common set of programming chosen by the Big Three television networks
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
(ABC, CBS, and NBC) is to air a newscast at 5 p.m., national news at 5:30 p.m., local news at 6 p.m., and syndicated programming at 6:30 p.m., though some Fox stations that carry a Big Three-style news schedule (commonly stations that were former Big Three affiliates themselves) carry a 60- or 90-minute block of news from 5-6 (or 6:30) p.m. with an additional half-hour of local news in the 5:30 p.m. timeslot since Fox has yet to carry a national evening newscast. Some Big Three affiliates in the Eastern and Pacific time zones follow this early evening newscast model as well, running a 90-minute block of news from 5-6:30 p.m., particularly if they run a network's national evening newscast at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT. Some stations, regardless of time zone, even show a newscast from 6-7 p.m., which if run on a network station in the Central or Mountain time zones would lead into primetime network programming. Some television stations (e.g., WKYC and WJW-TV in Cleveland, WACH
WACH
WACH is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Midlands of South Carolina. It is licensed to Columbia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 48 from a transmitter along SC 12 in Southwestern Kershaw County. Owned by Barrington Broadcasting, the station has studios on...
in Columbia, SC) have recently begun using the fact that primetime in the Eastern time zone begins at 8 p.m. to their advantage by carrying a newscast during the 7 p.m. hour, generally due to attract viewers who work longer days and cannot return home to watch a 5 or 6 p.m. newscast.
Many stations that do not carry a newscast in the 6 p.m. time slot in the Central time zone, commonly affiliates of non-historical networks like Fox (though some Fox stations air a 6 p.m. newscast, though this is not entirely common as of yet), The CW and MyNetworkTV, air situation comedies during that hour. Many stations in the Central Time Zone tend to air one or both parts of the syndicated block at 5 p.m. or even earlier. Another more recent dilemma of the 7 p.m. primetime start is that a combination of longer commutes and work hours than in the past have caused many people to not come home from work until after 7 p.m., cutting into the potential ratings of shows that start at this time. Of course, the reverse is also true, as simultaneous broadcasts offer viewers the chance to watch "prime time television" without having to stay awake until 11 p.m.
In the case of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
, the network airs it at 12:30 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone following a local news break and recommends that stations in other time zones air it at 11:30 a.m. However, most stations in the Central Time Zone choose to run it at 11 a.m. (after The Price Is Right
The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)
The Price Is Right is an American game show which was created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Contestants compete to identify the pricing of merchandise to win cash and prizes. The show is well-known for its signature line of "Come on down!" when the announcer directs newly selected contestants to...
) and then followed by a local newscast at noon. Few CBS stations in the Central time zone run Y&R at 11:30, among them CBS owned-and-operated stations
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
(channel 2) in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and KTVT
KTVT
KTVT, virtual channel 11, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth designated market area. The station is co-owned with independent station KTXA , and the two stations share facilities in Dallas and Fort Worth...
(channel 11) in Dallas-Fort Worth
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington. Residents of the area...
. For this reason, neither The Price Is Right or Y&R has an announcement to stay tuned for the next program, though most daytime shows do not have a program announcement for other daytime shows anyway.
Local programming
Local programming
The term Local Programme, Local Programming, Local Content or Local Television refers to a television programme made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or television market...
and television news are not typically affected as many stations air the morning newscast at 4:30, 5 or 5:30 a.m., and the early evening newscasts at 5 and/or 6 p.m., the late evening newscast is affected due to the differences in time between time zones, meaning that if the late local news starts at 10 p.m. Central time on one network station, an affiliate of the same network in the Eastern time zone airs theirs at 11 p.m., the late night program lineups on NBC, ABC and CBS are also similarly timeshifted airing a half-hour later. Many Fox, CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates and some independent stations carry a prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
newscast that is similarly affected by the timeshifting of the primetime schdule, meaning that if the primetime local news starts at 9 p.m. Mountain time on one network station, an affiliate of the same network in the Pacific time zone would air theirs at 10 p.m. Similarly, media coverage of New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
celebrations in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
often leave the Central Time Zone out. Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
, though produced in New York, when broadcast on New Year's Eve took advantage of its later time slot (11:37 p.m. Central time) to lampoon this inconsistency and produce its own New Year's
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
countdown for television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
viewers in the Central Time Zone, although most Central Time local network affiliates usually broadcast Conan after covering their own regional New Year's Eve celebrations. In some locations, New York's New Year's Eve celebration might be repeated or delayed one hour to correspond to the Central Time zone.
Since late 2009, PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
has begun using servers instead of separate feeds for time delaying of its programming to the network's member stations. The servers imitate a delayed program feed, broadcasting the program at the correct airtime as if it were being broadcast via satellite. This was needed due to PBS having upgraded its main program feed to high-definition (or to widescreen digital at the very least) in December 2008, but satellite capacity allowed for only two feeds of the schedule, Eastern and Pacific, prompting the removal of the feeds for the Central and Mountain time zones and a shared feed for Alaska and Pacific time zones in February 2009, which created complaints from PBS stations.
National live events that are simulcast across the country also present special problems for local stations. A live Sunday sporting event that is played from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time preempts local 6 p.m. newscasts on the East Coast. Likewise, a State of the Union address
State of the Union Address
The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and his national priorities.The practice arises...
that is televised at 9 p.m. Eastern Time preempts local 6 p.m. newscasts on the West Coast.
Changes to account for DST
Some areas of the U.S. do not observe daylight saving timeDaylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
, leading to the following changes:
- Stations in ArizonaArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
(only the Navajo NationNavajo NationThe Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
observes DST) change from the live Mountain Time feed to a delay from the Eastern/Central feed when DST begins, to preserve a 7 p.m. start time. - On stations in Puerto RicoPuerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and the United States Virgin IslandsUnited States Virgin IslandsThe Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...
, shows airing during DST start at the same time at ET/CT. Otherwise, primetime is on an hour's delay. This is because affiliates there receive their programs from the ET/CT master control. (A similar arrangement occurs in BermudaBermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, which is a British territoryUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
but is the home of two affiliates of U.S. networks.) - In Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa, primetime shows are delayed by an additional hour.
- In all cases, live sports and other live event broadcasts begin an hour earlier.
Other
- KECY-TVKECY-TVKECY-TV is the primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for El Centro, California and Yuma, Arizona. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter between the two cities in the Chocolate Mountains in Imperial County, California. Owned...
and KECY-DT2, which are licensed to El Centro, CaliforniaEl Centro, CaliforniaEl Centro is a city in and county seat of Imperial County, the largest city in the Imperial Valley and the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban area and principal city of the El Centro metropolitan area which encompasses all of Imperial County. El Centro is also...
, start primetime programming at either 6 or 7 p.m. local time, depending on the DST status in Arizona, because Yuma CountyYuma County, Arizona-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*70.4% White*2.0% Black*1.6% Native American*1.2% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.8% Two or more races*20.8% Other races*59.7% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
in that state is also part of the same media market. All other stations in California start at 8 p.m. - Satellite stations in western North DakotaNorth DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
, within the Mountain time zone, have 6 p.m. starts to primetime rather than the usual 7 p.m. because the primary stations are in either BismarckBismarck, North DakotaBismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census, while its metropolitan population was 108,779...
or MinotMinot, North DakotaMinot is a city located in north central North Dakota in the United States. It is most widely known for the Air Force base located approximately 15 miles north of the city. With a population of 40,888 at the 2010 census, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state...
in the Central time zone.