The closing announcement ofARD as heard in 1993 (in German).
Asign-on (orstart-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for aradio ortelevision station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of asign-off (orclosedown in Commonwealth countries except Canada), which is the sequence of operations involved when aradio ortelevision station shuts down itstransmitters and goes off the air for a predetermined period; generally, this occurs during the overnight hours although a broadcaster's digital specialty or sub-channels may sign-on and sign-off at significantly different times than its main channels.
Sign-on and sign-off sequences have become less common due to the increasing prevalence of24/7 broadcasting. However, somenational broadcasters continue the practice; particularly those in countries with limited broadcast coverage. Stations may also sometimes close for transmitter maintenance, or to allow another station to broadcast on the same channel space.[b]
Sign-ons, like sign-offs, vary from country to country, from station to station, and from time to time; however, most follow a similar general pattern. It is common for sign-ons to be followed by a network's early morningnewscast, or theirmorning or breakfast show.
Some broadcasters that have ceased signing on and signing off in favour of 24-hour broadcasting may perform a sign-on sequence at a certain time in the morning (usually between 4:00 and 7:00 a.m.) as a formality to signify the start of its operating day (in the United States, the broadcast logging day begins at 6:00 a.m. local time).[citation needed]
The sign-on sequence may include some or all of the following stages, but not necessarily in this order:
For television or radio stations that cut off their signal during off-broadcast hours, atest pattern or a static image accompanied by a 400 Hz tone, a 1 kHz tone (or other single-sine-wave tones) or music may be broadcast fifteen to twenty minutes before the actual sign-on. Digital channels may still run overnight programs or interstitials at this time (ITV Nightscreen in the United Kingdom being an example), which conclude when the station's main programming schedule begins.
A signal to turn on remotetransmitters may be played—this is usually a series oftouch tones.
On radio stations, especially international stations onshortwave, aninterval signal may be played in a loop, usually for 3 to 5 minutes before the actual broadcast starts.
A television station may show a video and photomontage set to thenational anthem or other patriotic piece of music. The accompanying television video may include images of thenational flag, thehead of state,national heroes, nationalmilitary soldiers,national symbols, and othernationalistic imagery (especially onstate-owned broadcasters), or simply the stationident. In the case of television stations broadcasting to audiencesin more than one country, the flags and national symbols of each country in turn may be shown, with its respective national anthem being played.
Ownership information about the station, and a list of related organizations.
A video of people singing an opening song, or opening dance performance to start the day.
A greeting to viewers or listeners.
Contact information, such as street and mailing addresses, telephone number, email, and website details.
Another disclaimer that programs are for personal use only (sometimes with information oncopyright restrictions), and a statement that businesses cannot profit from showing them by applying acover charge for viewing.
A statement of commitment to quality; this may be in the form of a recognized standard, such as thePhilippines' Broadcast Code of theKapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas(Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines).
Generally a stationjingle orslogan will be played, accompanied on television withvideo clips featuring station programming or personalities. The Start-Up/Sign-On Notice is announced after the national anthem.
While most of these sign-on steps are done as a service to the public, or for advertising reasons, some of them may be required by the government of the country.[citation needed]
Sign-offs, like sign-ons, vary from country to country, from station to station, and from time to time; however, most follow a similar general pattern. Many stations follow the reverse process to their sign-on sequence at the start of the day.
Many stations, while no longer conducting a sign-off and being off air for a period of time each day, instead run low-cost programming during those times of low viewer numbers. This may includeinfomercials,movies, television show reruns, simpleweather forecasts, low cost news orinfotainment programming from other suppliers, simulcasts of sister services, or feeds of localcable TV companies' programming via afiber optic line to thecable headend. Other broadcasters that are part of aradio ortelevision network may run an unedited feed of the network's overnight programming from a central location, without localadvertising. During what are otherwise closedown hours, some channels may also simulcast their teletext pages or full page headlines with music or feeds from sister radio stations playing in the background. Some stations, after doing a sign-off, nonetheless continue to transmit throughout the off-air period on cable/satellite; this transmission may involve atest pattern, static image, localweather radar display, teletext pages or full-page headlines which was accompanied by music or a localweather radio service.
Some broadcasters that have ceased signing on and signing off in favour of 24-hour broadcasting may perform a sign-off sequence at a certain time in the night (usually between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.) as a formality to signify the end of its operating day (in the United States, the broadcast logging day ends at 12:00 midnight local time).
The sign-off sequence may include some or all of the following stages, but not necessarily in this order:
An announcement informing viewers that the station is about to go off-air: it may also include a message of thanks for the viewer's patronage, along with an announcement of the time when the station is scheduled to sign on again.
A stationjingle orslogan may be played, accompanied on television withvideo clips featuring station programming or personalities,[1] or perhaps stock scenes from the station's main city/cities. A series of programtrailers may also be played.
Closing credits acknowledging announcers, technicians and other crew who operated the day's broadcast.[4]
Ownership information about the station and their parent company, as well as their contact information, such as street and mailing addresses, telephone or fax number, zip code, e-mail, and website details.[2]
A video of people singing a closing song, or closing dance performance to end the day's broadcast.
A disclaimer that programs are for personal use only (sometimes with information oncopyright restrictions), and a statement that businesses cannot profit from showing them by applying acover charge for viewing.
A disclaimer that station programming may be taped, aired live, or originates from another television or radio network.
The viewer may be encouraged to view or listen to alternative services during the station's downtime; these are usually sister or affiliate stations.
A statement of commitment to quality, usually in the form of a recognized standard: in the Philippines, it is usually the Broadcast Code of theKapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas(Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines), while in the United States, it was (until 1983) theTelevision Code of theNational Association of Broadcasters. Same as the start-up, the closedown/sign-off notice is shown before theNational Anthem.
A television station may show a video and photomontage set to thenational anthem or other patriotic piece of music. The accompanying television video may include images of thenational flag, thehead of state,national heroes, nationalmilitary soldiers,national symbols, and othernationalistic imagery (especially onstate-owned broadcasters,[5] but sometimes on privately-owned ones too), or simply the stationident.[2] In the case of television stations broadcasting to audiencesin more than one country, the flags and national symbols of each country in turn may be shown, with its respective national anthem being played.
Stations in theGerman-speaking parts of Europe (DACH) would use a slide with the station logo and the wordSendeschluss (in Germany and Austria also alternatively speltSendeschluß with aneszett, meaning "shutdown"), shown prior to the test card (as opposed to before the signal being cut) to tell the viewer to switch off their sets. This practice ceased around 1994–96.[6]
The station may display some type of novelty item, such as an animated character, particular to that station or its locale.
Viewers may be reminded to turn off their television sets just prior to the transmitter being switched off. This was historically practised in the United Kingdom, German-speaking Europe[7] and in many parts of theEastern Bloc, and is still in regular practice in some places likeRussia and some areas ofJapan.[citation needed] Sometimes, a loud tone may be played on the audio to encourage sleeping viewers to turn their television sets off, in order to prevent electricity wastage and to mitigate the risk of fire and/or explosions occurring in older TV sets.
On channels intended for young children, a short video may be shown of the channel's characters or hosts going to bed, before showing a loop of them sleeping throughout the night until programming resumes the following morning.[8][9]
Finally, stations may show atest card,[2] station logo, a loop of the station ident, a black screen, or a static schedule (telling viewers of the programming line-up once broadcasting resumes), usually with amonotone sound or a relay of a radio station: some stations may show a sequence of teletext pages, while others may use a promotional video or a series ofinfomercials. Other stations may simply cut off the signal, usually by sending a series oftouch tones to turn off remotetransmitters, which resulted instatic on ananalog television signal. Others may switch to a 24-hour channel or show archived programming.[c]
Some countries have a legal protocol for signing-off: in the United States, the minimum requirement is the station'scall sign, followed by its designatedcity of license.[10] Many stations do include other protocols, such as the national anthem or transmitter information, as a custom, or as a service to the public.
In the United Kingdom, before the introduction of 24-hour television, there was no known legal protocol for a sign-off:BBC One and manyITV regions customarily included a continuity announcement, clock and the country'snational anthem (forBBC One Wales andHTV Wales,Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau was also played beforehand), whileGranada andChannel 4 signed-off with just an announcement, clock and ident, andBBC Two,Yorkshire andBorder closed down with an announcement over their station clock.
In a number of countries closedowns formerly took place during the daytime as well as overnight. In theUnited Kingdom, this was initially due to government-imposed restrictions on daytime broadcasting hours, and later, due to budgetary constraints. The eventual relaxation of these rules meant that afternoon closedowns ceased permanently on theITV network in October 1972, but theBBC maintained the practice until Friday 24 October 1986, before commencing a full daytime service on the following Monday. Afternoon closedowns continued inSouth Korea until December 2005. Hong Kong's broadcasting networks (particularly the English-speaking channels) also practiced this until mid-2008. In these cases, the station's transmitters later did not actually shut-down for the afternoon break; either a test-card was played or a static schedule was posted telling viewers of the programming line-up once broadcasting resumes.
In Indonesia, restrictions on broadcast hours were also implemented in July 2005 as part of an energy saving campaign.[46] Three years later, they were implemented again due to the electricity crisis.[47]
Medium wave radio is a special case due to its unusual propagation characteristics; it can bounce hundreds of miles by reflecting from the upper atmosphere at night, but during the day these same layers absorb signal instead of reflecting. A few powerful regionalclear-channel stations have an extensive secondary coverage area which is protected by having smaller localco-channel stations in distant communities sign off shortly before sunset. A frequency on which a broadcaster has to drastically reduce power or sign off entirely at sunset was traditionally the least desirable assignment, which would usually go to small or new-entrant stations when all of the more favourable slots were already allocated.
TheseAM daytimers are becoming less common as stations (and audiences) migrate to FM or to frequencies vacated by the closure of other stations, but a handful still exist in the US and México.
During religious holidays or occasions,Doordarshan andAkashvani will broadcast a prayer of any religion through the day, a week or a month (e.g. DuringRamadan, a reading from the Quran, a Muslim quote, or a call for Azan and Fajr prayer will be broadcast. DuringLent, a Christian prayer, a hymn or a psalm will be broadcast).
DuringYom Kippur, virtually all radio and television stations based in Israel go silent for 24 hours, as required by law. However, most international networks (e.g.CNN) continue to broadcast as usual.[48]
DuringRamadan,Malaysian public broadcasterRTM operatedTV1 24 hours a day instead of signing off. In 2012, TV1 broadcast 24 hours a day during theLondon Olympics in 2012, due to the time difference.[49] This would become permanent in August 2012, to coincide with their sister channelTV2 by showing reruns from the broadcaster's archive library and movies on early mornings before start-up.
During theHoly Week in the Philippines that occurs anywhere between the last week of March to the third week of April (depending on the Roman Catholicliturgical calendar), terrestrial television and radio stations continue their regular schedules fromPalm Sunday untilHoly Wednesday. From the midnight ofHoly Thursday until the early hours ofEaster Sunday (before 4 AMPHT), most commercial television and radio networks either remain off-the-air or reduce their broadcast hours. Stations that opt to remain on-air provide special programming such as Lenten drama specials, news coverage of various services and rites,Christian andmellow music content. Member stations of theCatholic Media Network prominently follow the latter pattern, broadcastingPaschal Triduum services and other similar programming.[50]
Campus radio stations' operations during this time are left to the discretion of their respective schools, colleges, or universities by either closing down on the afternoon and/or evening ofHoly Wednesday or remaining off-air for the entire Holy Week.
On cable, satellite, and live TV streaming, with the exception of specialty channels that broadcasthorse racing,cockfighting, and the like that remain dormant during this period, most international networks distributed in the Philippines or Philippine-exclusive cable channels either continue to broadcast their 24/7 regular programming service week-long or provide specially-arranged schedules from Holy Thursday to Black Saturday.
2015 - whenTyphoon Maysak (Chedeng) struckAurora, some radio and television stations that were supposed to sign-off during the Triduum before the typhoon's landfall in the Philippines, aired news updates related to the typhoon.
^Conversely,broadcast automation has greatly reduced the number of sign-offs, as the local operator can hand off control to a commonly-owned regional station and leave their automated systems to rungraveyard slot infomercials or pass unedited network feeds through with little more than a pause for automatedstation identification. A few may even use "we're always on" as a selling point, although it is becoming the rule rather than the exception.
^Standard practice tends to vary between countries. Canadian stations tend to leave a test card up after sign-off. US stations most often drop carrier signals entirely after sign-off to conserve energy. Finnish stations and some Japanese stations would leave a grey screen for approximately 1 minute after sign-off before cutting signal entirely.
Algeria
Armenia
Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Barbados
Bhutan
Bolivia
Brazil
Brunei
Cambodia
Canada
Egypt
Ethiopia
France
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Libya
Malaysia
Maldives
Morocco
Myanmar
Nepal
Niger
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Syria
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
United Kingdom
United States
Western Sahara
Yemen
