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Atimeshift channel ortime-shift channel (sometimes referred to as a+1 channel) is a television channel carrying time-delayed reruns of its "parent" channel's programming.[1] This channel runs alongside its parent: the termtimeshift does not refer to a network broadcasting at a later time to reflect a local time zone, unless the parent is also available. Often the timeshift channel's branding and advertising will be the same as that of the parent, with the channel number and respective timing being the only distinction between the two, but some, such asChannel 4 +1 in the United Kingdom andTVNZ 1+1 in New Zealand, will overlay a differentdigital on-screen graphic to distinguish the two channels. A few channels, likeFilm4 +1 in theUnited Kingdom, do not carry a digital on-screen graphic on its regular channel or its timeshift channel.
InAustralia, timeshifted Foxtel pay-TV channels typically carry a time delay of two hours, making the timeshift channels run on local time in Western Australia whendaylight saving time is not in effect. Thesechannels may accordingly be described as +2, such as onArena, although the timeshift forW. is branded as W2. More than 20 timeshift channels exist, most of the entertainment channels.
InNew Zealand,Sky Movies 2 was formerly a two-hour delayed timeshift channel of Sky Movies 1 between 2007 and 2013. MediaWorks launched an hour-delayed timeshift channel of theTV3 feed with Auckland regional advertising on 30 March 2009. In 2012, TVNZ replacedTVNZ7 with an hour-delayed timeshift channel of theTVNZ 1 feed with Auckland regional advertising. In late August 2013,U was also replaced, with an hour-delayed timeshifted version ofTV2. Mediaworks launched an hour-delayed timeshifted version ofFour on 27 June 2014 and replaced it with an hour-delayed timeshifted version ofBravo on 3 July 2016.Sky Television launched an hour-delayed timeshifted version ofPrime on 1 February 2017.
On 1 July 2019, MediaWorks launched an hour-delayed timeshift version ofThreeLife, replacingThe Edge TV which went online only.
InBulgaria, the terrestrial versions ofbTV Lady,Ring BG, andDiema Family are shifted by an hour, with the normal versions only available on cable and satellite.
Ireland has access to many of the UK's timeshift channels through satellite and cable services. Some are also available via spillover transmissions fromNorthern Ireland such asUTV's timeshift service UTV +1. RTÉ provides two timeshift service forRTÉ One andRTÉ Two, RTÉ One +1 and RTÉ Two +1 respectively. RTÉ One +1 used to be part-time, starting each night at 7 p.m. after the close ofRTÉjr, though since the launch of RTÉ Two +1 in 2019, it became full-time, with RTÉjr now time sharing with RTÉ Two +1 since then.TV3 launched its timeshift service in April 2015, though is only available on satellite and cable.TG4 (the Irish language broadcaster) launched its timeshift channel TG4 +1 on 8 September 2023, coinciding with the launch of theCúla4 channel, with which TG4 +1 timeshares with.
InItaly the main Timeshift channels provider isSky and most of their channels have a time delay of one hour. In the past, some channels likeSky Uno,Fox andFox Crime had two-hours delay channels but all of them were closed.
InPoland, there are two timeshift channels. Private, commercialTVN HD +1 was launched on May 1, 2010, and regional TVS HD +1 on April 30, 2010.
In theUnited Kingdom, most timeshift channels have a time delay of one hour, and are thus described as a +1 channel – for instance,U&Gold has a timeshift channel known as U&Gold +1. Not all channels are named like this, for example the timeshift channel ofU&Dave is named U&DaveJaVu, and the timeshift channel of High Street TV 1 is named High Street TV 3. +2 channels, with a delay of two hours, also used to exist. The most notable of these wasFox, formerly known as FX. However, there are currently no more +2 channels on air, with the last remaining +2 channel,TLC +2, being shut down on 27 April 2018. Most timeshift channels are available only via pay television, though a fair number also have availability through thedigital terrestrial televisionFreeview platform, with some Freeview +1 networks limited in availability by a region's transmitter station reach (such as London/Crystal Palace or Manchester/Winter Hill). 50 timeshift channels are carried overSky, whilst 31 are available throughVirgin Media.
In theUnited States, timeshift channels typically carry a time delay of three hours (in line with the time difference between theeast andwest coasts of the U.S.); the main channel feed is generally identified as the "East" feed and is programmed forEastern Time Zone viewers, while the corresponding timeshift channel is generally identified as the "West" feed and is programmed for viewers in thePacific Time Zone. For conventional broadcast networks, a timeshift channel is a network affiliate from a market in anothertime zone (such asNew York City-based stationsWCBS-TV,WNBC,WABC-TV andWNYW asEastern Time Zone feeds, andLos Angeles-based stationsKCBS-TV,KNBC,KABC-TV andKTTV asPacific Time Zone feeds forCBS,NBC,ABC andFox, respectively); for cable-only outlets, a timeshift channel is simply the originalprogramming feed retransmitted at a later time, as is the case with timeshift channels in other countries. (Many cable systems in theMountain states transmit a mix of timeshift channels as the originating network feed, split by the network between the "East" and "West" feed as opposed to offering uniform feeds of each channel that is aligned to the feed intended for distribution in the corresponding locale.) CBS also uses its streaming news serviceCBS News as a timeshift channel, carrying selectCBS News programs on a half-hour delay from their original airings.
The major U.S. terrestrialtelevision networks broadcast without delay in the Eastern andCentral time zones (UTC−5 and UTC−6, respectively), but delayed programs by one and three hours respectively for theMountain (UTC−7) and Pacific (UTC−8) time zones. The start of U.S. eveningprime time programs is typically announced in the form of "8, 7 Central" (often written as "8/7c") or "8 Eastern and Pacific" (often written as "8 ET/PT").
Manycable television channels do not timeshift (or offer timeshift feeds to all viewers across the country), though there are several exceptions. As an alternative, many cable channels, includingcable news outlets such asFox News Channel,CNN andHLN repeat most of their prime time programs on their main channel inlate night time slots, so that they will air during prime time in both the Eastern and Pacific time zones, though it is subject to pre-emption because of later breaking news.
Premium channels such asHBO,Showtime andStarz commonly air three-hour delayed feeds of the main channel and theirmultiplex channels, though typically digital cable providers only simultaneously carry the East and West coast feeds of the main channel while the multiplex channels are a singular feed (the "East" feed for the Central and Eastern time zones, and the "West" feed for the Pacific and Mountain zones); this allows subscribers to watch a movie, series or special three hours behind or ahead of its original airing in their area (in the case ofThe Movie Channel, many cable systems only carry the respective coastal feed of the main channel and its multiplex channel The Movie Channel Xtra, rather than airing the East and West feeds of the primary channel or both channels).
Manychildren's television channels, such asDisney Channel,Nickelodeon, andCartoon Network also have timeshift services; however, most digital cable providers will only provide the East or West coast feed in the basic package and the opposite feed, if available, is often in a higher package tier (satellite subscribers will often receive both the East and West feed as part of their service package). TheNick Jr. Channel notably only maintained a single Eastern Time feed until 2013, which led to controversy when the channel launched its adult-orientedNickMom programming block, which had started at 7:00 p.m. in the Pacific Time Zone and earlier in Alaska and Hawaii, at times when preschoolers would still be awake in those regions; Nick Jr. would later launch a West Coast feed due to complaints from some parents about the content featured on the NickMom block.
Sporting events, including theSuper Bowl, have been broadcast live in all U.S. time zones simultaneous with the primetime schedule of the Eastern time zone, for decades, resulting in announcements such as "4 Eastern, 1 Pacific" (generally shown as "4 ET/1 PT"). In the event of a sporting event leading into prime time on the East Coast, the following programs are often said to be "coming up next, except on the West Coast," as additional programming is shifted around to fill the time between the end of the event and the start of prime time on the West Coast. Many times, this is the programming that was preempted by the effectively earlier time slot in the western zones. Live nationwide U.S. airings of international sporting events like theFIFA World Cup on Fox and theOlympic Games on NBC, beginning in the late 2010s, are simultaneous with the actual live global broadcast regardless of the hosting nation, resulting in adjustments by networks as most of their games may fall outside the primetime slots of any of the U.S. time zones at the time of the event (and, on occasion, televise live during daytime with primetime encores when the hosting nation is located outside theAmericas).
Until the mid-2000s, several awards shows were routinelytape-delayed for viewers on the West Coast while being transmitted live east of the Rockies. However, by the late 2000s, with the rise of social media likeTwitter andFacebook around discussion of television programming, many of them now choose to air their ceremonies live all across the mainland U.S., especially those held in the Los Angeles area where tape-delayed broadcasts had been conducted by the networks in the past. The transition was ushered in 2009 by NBC with theGolden Globe Awards, primarily aiming to preventspoilers for western viewers previously relying on telecasts delayed until local prime time. In the past, the only way to find out winners in advance was throughradio news and print wire reports summarizing the ceremonies in progress, before the Internet andsocial media and their more widely-reaching and immediate reports effectively made tape delay a pointless endeavor.
TheAcademy Awards regularly air live on ABC across mainland North America for decades before expanding to full live telecasts for all U.S. territories in 2019. Since 2016, CBS mandates all of its affiliates across all U.S. time zones in and out of mainland North America to air theGrammy Awards live simultaneously with the East Coast primetime airing with corresponding local primetime encores for each U.S. time zone outside the Eastern and Central time zones. ThePrimetime Emmy Awards, on rotation among ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, joined the Grammys in airing completely live all across the U.S., including Hawaii, starting with CBS' telecast turn in 2017 to resolve the complaints of tape-delaying live American TV shows outside the mainland continent. In its resumption with physical show staging since the beginning of theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2022, theTony Awards completed the shift ofmajor U.S. entertainment awards shows to live coast-to-coast U.S. telecasts with its respective broadcast transition.
TheBillboard Music Awards began its live coast-to-coast U.S. telecast with ABC in 2016 and has since juggled between West Coast-delayed and live coast-to-coast U.S. broadcasts in its transfer to NBC beginning in 2018. Meanwhile, theMTV Video Music Awards have regularly aired live all across U.S. territories simultaneously withThe CW as part of its post-COVID-19 pandemic adjustments since 2020. In particular, network-timeshifting of live U.S. television broadcasts has since steadily declined amidst the rise of social media and online streaming services, simultaneous with the increasing trend of U.S. entertainment shows towards live coast-to-coast American broadcasting that earned renewed importance for they are "DVR-proof" in terms of ratings and social purposes.
Now more rarely, lesser ceremonies continue to air live in the Eastern and Central time zones while tape-delayed for all other U.S. territories, as their airtime is often purchased as abrokered programming arrangement, and as disruption for those ceremonies (often on weekdays) is much less tolerated by their airing network's affiliate base west of the Rockies. Other ceremonies that do not air live are taped in advance, including those broadcast on weekend nights in the U.S., to allowstandards and practices to watch the ceremony in advance and determine cuts for profanity or content to insert ableep censor or cut-away, and the producers can make cuts for time and superfluous items such as longer walks than expected by an award winner to the stage or a rare botched performance with the replacement ofdress rehearsal footage.
In Canada, digital television services typically offer network stations from at least Toronto and Vancouver as timeshift channels, and may also offer stations from other markets as well. Most English-language programming is transmitted without delay in theAtlantic time zone (UTC−4) and delayed in most of the rest of the country. This results in the effective existence of, for example, +1, +2, +3, and +4 channels of the broadcast networks for viewers in the Atlantic time zone and −4, −3, −2, and −1 channels for Pacific viewers. French programming is transmitted without delay onMontreal'sCBFT-DT in theEastern zone and delayed only in Western Canada. InNewfoundland,CBNT-DT, which hasits own time zone half an hour ahead of Atlantic time, programming airs at the same time as in the Atlantic, with special time announcements (thus, for instance,The National onCBC will be said to air at 10:00, 10:30 in Newfoundland).
In practice, only the CBC delays its entire prime time schedule for each time zone; the commercial networks typically schedule programs to maximize their ability to claimsimultaneous substitution rights (which allows local broadcast stations to require U.S. broadcast stations' signals on television providers to be overridden with their own, if they are airing the exact same program in simulcast), resulting in programs often being scheduled in pattern with an airing from the Eastern or Pacific zones. In Alberta, programs may sometimes be aired earlier or later than normal than in other parts of the country in order to achieve a simsub with either coast, as stations from Spokane (which is located in Pacific time, one hour behind local Mountain time) are typically carried on cable in the province.
Several Canadian cable channels have separate feeds for the Eastern and Pacific time zones, such asYTV,Teletoon,Family,History,UNIS,CTV Comedy Channel, andW Network, though sometimes theirhigh definition feeds are only available in eastern feeds.
In Latin America, Spanish-language pay television programming used to be broadcast without delay in Argentina and Uruguay, and delayed in most countries; this situation was common in networks that broadcast one video feed for distribution to the rest of Latin American countries, as it centred their schedule using the Argentine time zone (HBO, Moviecity). However, this stopped being the case on basic-tier subscription TV with the launch of different regional feeds centred on local time zones, either based on Mexico, Colombia, Peru or Chile. Networks that are known to employ this practice areStar Channel,MTV,ESPN,Cartoon Network,Nickelodeon, among others. In cases of live programming, all events are broadcast in all feeds live without delay.
Portuguese-language programming inBrazil is transmitted in broadcast and cable networks without delay throughout the country in all time zones, except for broadcast stations inAcre, which is the only state 2 hours behindBrasília time. A few years ago, however, programming in broadcast stations was also delayed for states 1 hour behind Brasília time.
XEW-TV (the flagship ofCanal de las Estrellas) in Mexico has two timeshift feeds: Canal de las Estrellas −1 and Canal de las Estrellas −2, delayed one and two hours respectively from the main Mexico City feed. These timeshift feeds are broadcast onterrestrial television in the Mountain and Pacific time zones and are available onpay television in various parts of the country.
