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In broadcast programming fringe time refers to two dayparts -
Fringe time is widely used in television to denote the evening television hours that precede and follow the prime time. [1] [2] The television hours that precede the prime time is called early fringe, which is usually between 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Late fringe is the television hours that follow the prime time, which is usually between 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. [2]
During the first two decades of American television, the early fringe was considered a part of prime time, which began programming a half-hour earlier than it did in the present day. In 1971, in an effort to loosen the hegemony the Big Three television networks had on television in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission implemented two rules, the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (fin-syn), which prohibited the networks from owning interests in syndicators; and the Prime Time Access Rule, which prohibited networks from programming a one-hour slot in the evening hour, the slot now known as fringe time.
The intent of the new rules was to encourage individual station licensees to produce more local programming. In practice, this failed, and the slot was (and largely remains) dominated by syndicated programming. Game shows already airing in daytime on the Big Three networks quickly filled many of the new slots, ostensibly funneled through syndicators but produced on the same sets with most of the same personnel (except sometimes a different host) as their network counterparts, defeating much of the purpose of the new rule. One such program, Wheel of Fortune , has survived in syndication since that era, outlasting the show's network run. Sister program Jeopardy! , after a failed attempt at syndication in 1974 near the end of its network run, returned as an independent show a decade later, with both it and Wheel being fringe time fixtures in the decades since.
Although during the early days of these new rules, local stations typically carried a hodge-podge of weekly shows, by the 1980s almost all fringe time programming was strip programming at least five and sometimes six days a week, a pattern that remains to the present day.
Other formats that filled fringe time over the years include newsmagazine (mostly syndicated entertainment-based programs), music-based shows (such as Hee Haw , Solid Gold , America's Top 10 , and Dance Fever ), and off-network rerun, usually sitcom. Local news, occasionally seen in the time slot in the early years of television, has seen a renaissance in the time slot in the 21st century. Occasionally other formats more commonly seen in daytime television such as talk shows or court shows are used to program the slot, but because it leads into the network prime time lineups, these shows are expected to be highly rated and retain a large audience, and thus only the highest-rated shows in these genres (such as Judge Judy ) are ever used in this manner.
Both fin-syn and the Prime Time Access Rule have since been repealed; the networks, although they have reacquired most of the syndicators they were forced to spin off, have never resumed directly programming the fringe time slots they were forced to abandon, except for occasional sports and special programming.
Independent station and non-Big Three network affiliates, because they lack access to network late-night shows, have had to program both the early fringe and the late fringe with similar approaches.
Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults. It is used by the major television networks to broadcast their season's nightly programming. The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.. In India and some Middle Eastern countries, prime time consists of the programmes that are aired on Television between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. local time.
Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where broadcast programming is scheduled by television networks with local independent affiliates. Syndication is less widespread in the rest of the world, as most countries have centralized networks or television stations without local affiliates. Shows can be syndicated internationally, although this is less common.
Nick at Nite is a nighttime programming block on the American basic cable channel Nickelodeon. The programming broadcasts from prime time to late night. The block initially consisted of syndicated sitcoms and films from the 1950s to the 1970s. Nick at Nite gradually shifted its programming to primarily airing sitcoms as recent as the mid-1990s to the 2010s.
In broadcast programming, dayparting is the practice of dividing the broadcast day into several parts, in which a different type of radio programming or television show appropriate for that time period is aired. Television programs are most often geared toward a particular demography, and what the target audience typically engages in at that time.
Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically the radio and the television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule.
An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast network. As such, it only broadcasts syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered programming, for which a third party pays the station for airtime; and local programs that it produces itself.
Late night television is the general term for television programs produced for broadcast during the late evening and overnight hours—most commonly shown after, if not in competition with, local late-evening newscasts; programs that have been showcased in the daypart historically encompassed a particular genre of programming that falls somewhere between a variety show and a talk show. Late-night shows predominantly cater to night owls, people suffering from insomnia, shift workers with irregular schedule assignments, younger male audiences and college students, along with spillover audiences through viewers of entertainment and news programs aired earlier in the evening.
Daytime television is the general term for television programs produced for broadcast during the daytime hours on weekdays; programs broadcast in the daypart historically have been programmed to appeal to a female audience.
The Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) was an American television broadcasting regulation enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from September 13, 1971, to August 30, 1996. It was instituted under concerns that television networks controlled too much of their affiliates' programming, and that there was not enough competition in program production and distribution. Under the regulation, commercial television networks were prohibited from airing programming in the 7:30 p.m. ET/PT half-hour on weekdays and Saturdays, and the 7:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT half-hours on Sundays, on stations in the top 50 media markets. Despite only applying in the largest markets, the PTAR was practiced nationwide.
The CW Daytime was the unofficial branding for an afternoon programming block that was broadcast on The CW. It was originally branded as Daytime WB, which aired on one of its predecessors, The WB, from January 2, 2006 to September 15, 2006. The CW programmed the block from September 18, 2006 until September 3, 2021.
A graveyard slot is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots usually displayed in the early morning hours of each day, when most people are asleep.
Daytime is a block of television programming taking place during the late-morning and afternoon on weekdays. Daytime programming is typically scheduled to air between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., following the early morning daypart typically dedicated to morning shows, and preceding the evening dayparts that eventually lead into prime time.
The 1978–79 daytime network television schedule for the three major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the weekday and weekend daytime hours from September 1978 to August 1979.
The Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, widely known as the fin-syn rules, were a set of rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States in 1970. The FCC sought to prevent the Big Three television networks from monopolizing the broadcast landscape by preventing them from owning any of the programming that they aired in prime time. The rules also prohibited networks from airing syndicated programming they had a financial stake in. The rules also led the networks to spin off their syndicated divisions, such as CBS' CBS Enterprises, which was renamed Viacom in 1971 and spun off; ABC's ABC Films, which was sold to its five executives and later renamed Worldvision Enterprises; and NBC's syndicated division NBC Films, which was sold to National Telefilm Associates (NTA) for $7.5 million. The latter two deals both occurred in March 1973.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, in which contestants are presented with trivia clues in the form of answers and must phrase their responses in the form of a question. The show has experienced a long life in several incarnations over the course of nearly a half-century, spending more than 12 years as a daytime network program and having currently run in syndication for 39 seasons. It has also gained a worldwide following with a multitude of international adaptations.
The 1996–97 daytime network television schedule for the six major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the weekday and weekend daytime hours from September 1996 to August 1997. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 1995–96 season.
Late-night television is one of the dayparts in television broadcast programming. It follows prime time and precedes the overnight television show graveyard slot. The slot generally runs from about 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. ET, with variations according to the time zone and broadcaster.
The 2009–10 daytime network television schedule for four of the five major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the weekday daytime hours from September 2009 to August 2010. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, and any series canceled after the 2008–09 season.
In television broadcasting, the network era, also known as the Silver Age of television, refers to the period in American television history from the end of the first Golden Age of Television in the late 1950s to the beginning of the multi-channel transition in the mid-1980s. During this era, the Big Three television networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—dominated American television. This determination is established by institutional aspects that regularized television for the majority of the country, including color television, made standard by the late 1960s. As the arrival of new technologies emerged, it offered television viewers more choice and control. This eventually ended the network era and forced viewers to move into the multi-channel transition, leading to the post-network era and second Golden Age of Television.
The 2020–21 network late night television schedule for the four major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the late night hours from September 2020 to August 2021. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 2019–20 television season.