Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) ofbroadcast media shows, typicallyradio andtelevision, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule.
Modern broadcasters usebroadcast automation to 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 shows are presented weekly inprime time or 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 television andlinear channels).[2][3][4]
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.
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Broadcasters may schedule a program to air before or after a widely viewedtent-pole program, 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 flow will 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 Letterman as 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 Night helped 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 Leno instead, and Letterman departed forCBS to host a spiritual successor—Late Show with David Letterman—beginning in the 1993–94 season.Late Night would continue as a franchise with hosts such asConan O'Brien andJimmy Fallon—both of whom would later go on to hostThe Tonight Show.[7][8][9]
The same season,Fox scheduledThe X-Files as 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-Files proved 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 asSliders andVR.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 tostrip the talk showThe Jay Leno Show (a spiritual successor to Leno's tenure ofThe Tonight Show after Conan O'Briensucceeded him) 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 Show to a half hour and move it to 11:35 p.m. ET/PT in late-February 2010, displacingThe Tonight Show from 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]
Block programming is 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,All TV's "Jeepney TV sa All TV",[21][22] andNBC's "Must See TV").
Bridging is 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,[23] 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".[24]
A bridge was used byABC betweenRoseanne and the December 1992 series premiere ofThe Jackie Thomas Show, a new sitcom co-created byRoseanne andTom Arnold ofRoseanne fame. 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 fromRoseanne had been retained during the premiere.[25][26]
Owing to both programs'news comedy formats, theComedy Central programThe Daily Show used newscast-style toss segments to promote its new spin-off and lead-out,The Colbert Report, in which hostJon Stewart would engage in a comedic conversation with the latter's host,Stephen Colbert, viasplit-screen.[24] On the December 18, 2014 episode ofThe Daily Show, this segment was used to seamlessly segue into theseries finale ofThe Colbert Report. At its conclusion, the show transitioned back to Stewart (giving the impression that the entireColbert Report episode 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.[27][28]
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" away at 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 recorders can be configured to automatically record for a set length of time before and after a schedule's given timeslot inprogram guide data to account for possible variances).[29][30] For a period,TBS intentionally 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.[31]
Crossovers can 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'sChicago franchise andLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit (all created byDick Wolf),[32] and theABC dramasGrey's Anatomy andStation 19 (both created byShonda Rhimes).[33]
Counterprogramming is 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).[34][35] Despite frequently being among the top U.S. television broadcasts of all time, theSuper Bowl has had a prominent history of beingcounterprogrammed in this manner. One of the most prominent examples of this practice wasFox's1992 airing of a special live episode ofIn Living Color against the game'shalftime show.[36][37]
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 stunts and other tactics; these tactics have most notably been seen in counterprogramming efforts surroundingprofessional wrestling, including theMonday andWednesday Night Wars of the 1990s and 2020s respectively.[38][39][40]
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),[41][42] scheduling the competing program on a different night, or moving it to a different portion of the television season to avoid competition altogether.[41][42]
Dayparting is the practice of dividing theday into several parts, during each of which a different type program is appropriate for that time is aired.Daytime television shows are most often geared toward a particulardemographic, and what thetarget audience typically engages in at that time.
Stripping is 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 astelenovelas where 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.
Amarathon is 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 Zone marathon onNew Year's Day, andGame Show Network airing aCharles Nelson Reilly-hosted marathon ofgame showseries finales onNew Year's Eve in 1999),[43][44] as counterprogramming for major events airing on other channels (such as the Super Bowl in the U.S.),[45] to lead into new episodes of a series, or to commemorate milestones/events surrounding a specific series or franchise (such as an anniversary, or the network's acquisition of rights to broadcast a certain series or franchise).[46][47][48] Some marathons may focus on the roles of a specific entertainer; the death ofBetty White resulted 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, such as Hallmark Channel airing a marathon ofThe Golden Girls, and bothBuzzr and Game Show Network airing marathons of her game show appearances.[46]
While longer marathons are typically reserved for major events, the popularization ofbinge-watching via streaming services in the 2010s led to many U.S. cable networks adopting marathon-like blocks of programs as their regular schedule.[49][50] To compete with the release practices of streaming services,TBS premiered entire seasons of itspolice sitcomAngie Tribeca in a marathon format.[51][52] Similarly,free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services often feature linear channels that are narrowly-focused towards specific programs or franchises.[53]
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".[54] 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 Channel are known for broadcasting long-term holiday programming events. After experiencing success with itsCountdown to Christmas event, Hallmark Channel adopted a practice of dividing its programming into similarly-branded "seasons" year-round, which are accompanied by thematically appropriate original series andtelevision films. This strategy was part of an effort to position the channel as "a year-round destination for celebrations", and is synergistic withHallmark Cards' coregreeting card and collectibles businesses.[55][56][57][58]
A show'stime slot or 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),[59] or insurmountable competition from highly rated series.[60][61]
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