History Main / NoHoperRepeat

* {{Defied|Trope}} with HBO. Since their Sunday night lineup on February 2017 (''Literature/BigLittleLies'', ''Series/{{Girls}}'' and ''Series/CrashingUS'') conflicted with the Oscars, they made the newest episodes of each series available on their streaming services two days early, so fans wouldn't have to flip back and forth between them. However, ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' has aired episodes against the Academy Awards, once even [[https://images.genius.com/192b3734e4fbe81c40411fbcd2a4307d.1000x557x1.png mocking them in the]] [[CouchGag last title card]].

** During the games, the cable channel Creator/AnimalPlanet schedules a program called the "Series/PuppyBowl" -- basically, extended footage of puppies playing in an enclosure resembling a football stadium, along with "play-by-play" commentary (for many years provided by famed sportscaster Harry Kalas). From the second Puppy Bowl onwards, they had a kitten halftime show, 2013 introduced hedgehog cheerleaders, and 2014 featured guest spots from Franchise/TheMuppets (as a tie-in with the then-upcoming ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted''). Over the years, the Puppy Bowl has become popular enough to crawl out of No Hoper territory. While not coming close to competing with the Super Bowl's viewership, it's repeatedly broken Animal Planet's network records, with ratings increasing from 690K when it premiered in 2005 to 10 million in 2012. It's also gotten popular enough to have its own [[FollowTheLeader imitators]], such as the ''[[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Kitten]]'' [[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Bowl]] which aired on Hallmark Channel (and got a Cat Bowl spinoff in 2019, {{invert|edTrope}}ing the SpinoffBabies trope) until 2022, with Great American Family subsequently reviving it as the "Great American Rescue Bowl" for 2023.
** Animal Planet also created an Olympic-themed spin-off of the Puppy Bowl, the Puppy Games, to run opposite the Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies.

** During the games, the cable channel Creator/AnimalPlanet schedules a program called the "Series/PuppyBowl" -- basically, extended footage of puppies playing in an enclosure resembling a football stadium, along with "play-by-play" commentary (for many years provided by famed sportscaster Harry Kalas). From the second Puppy Bowl onwards, they had a kitten halftime show, 2013 introduced hedgehog cheerleaders, and 2014 featured guest spots from Franchise/TheMuppets (as a tie-in with the then-upcoming ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted''). Over the years, the Puppy Bowl has become popular enough to crawl out of No Hoper territory. While not coming close to competing with the Super Bowl's viewership, it's repeatedly broken Animal Planet's network records, with ratings increasing from 690K when it premiered in 2005 to 10 million in 2012. It's also gotten popular enough to have its own [[FollowTheLeader imitators]], such as the ''[[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Kitten]]'' [[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Bowl]] which airs on Hallmark Channel (which got a Cat Bowl spinoff in 2019, {{invert|edTrope}}ing the SpinoffBabies trope).

** Cable channels tend to run movies or [[MarathonRunning TV marathons]] opposite the Bowl. For instance, in 2015, almost every Viacom cable network (except for Creator/NickJr, which ran a ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'' marathon) did so with films in their archives: Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} showed their in-house film ''Rags'', and Creator/{{LOGO}} showed ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''. On the series front, The Hub competed in 2013 with a [[WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake "Strawberry Bowl"]], the digital subchannel Get TV countered the 2017 Bowl with a marathon of ''Series/TheLifeAndTimesOfGrizzlyAdams'', and Creator/MeTV aired a marathon of Valentine's Day-themed ''Series/FullHouse'' episodes against the pregame in 2022.

** One radio station in Green Bay, Wisconsin was so convinced no one would listen during a Packers Super Bowl appearance that they chose DeadAir.

** Although the Summer Olympics are, in a relative sense, not as significant in Canada as the Winter Olympics, CTV still tried to drag away some viewers from the 2016 Summer Olympics by running the first season of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' uncut and uncensored on ''broadcast TV''.

** NFL Network itself runs a static "Game Center" screen with a scoreboard and audio from the radio broadcast -- meant as a subtle hint for viewers to change the channel and come back later for the post-game. NFL Network used to do something similar on Sundays during the regular season, simulcasting essentially a radio version of the [=RedZone=] channel from Sirius XM, until they replaced it with the rolling news and analysis program ''NFL [=GameDay=] Live'' in 2014.

* Infamously, Channel 5 ran several family-oriented movies, including ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'', against Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, so that kids would have an alternative entertainment option. This was likely in response to complaints about programming that was a tribute to the queen pre-empting their children's programming block ''Milkshake!''.

** An approximately 10-hour marathon of ''Teen Titans Go!'' was aired . However, during the actual timeslot of ''The Owl House'', [adult swim] just aired their regularly scheduled ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' reruns.

* Another excuse to show marathons or movies on television is the annual ''[[Series/The700Club 700 Club]]'' telethon, which preempts programming on all Creator/{{TBN}}-owned networks (except Smile of a Child) and Creator/{{Freeform}}[[note]]This is not as much a case of MyFriendsAndZoidberg as you would believe: the channel was founded by Pat Robertson, the creator of ''700 Club'', and it's still contracted to show it despite its change in format, and still has to clear programming space for one day in January for the telethon[[/note]]. To entertain the viewers who otherwise would not be interested in the telethon (especially Freeform viewers, as the marathon takes over the Sunday movie marathon's timeslot), other channels will play marathons of their shows to compete with them, usually aimed at Freeform's teen demographic. Here's what happened in 2017:

* In mid-March 2020, the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic turned almost every sports channel, and weekend afternoon on the major networks, into a sea of such content (particularly "classic" event encores, usually saved for the off-season) since pretty much all sports have been suspended or cancelled worldwide, to various degrees (to the point Wiki/TheOtherWiki considers it the largest disruption to the sporting calendar since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII). There have been aversions, including [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming eSports]] competitions (such as online races involving drivers from suspended racing series), ESPN attempting to run a H-O-R-S-E competition using webcams and NBA players' personal courts, both CBS and Fox replacing cancelled award shows with "living room concert" specials as an alternative, and Wrestling/{{WWE}} and Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling going on with their shows in smaller studios with no audience.

** The Latin Grammys were to broadcast that evening on CBS from Los Angeles. The ceremony never took place and the awards were given out at a news conference over a month and a half later. Other new programming was delayed for a bit out of respect, including the premiere of ''Emeril'', prompting [[BlackComedy jokes that the terrorists were saving viewers from watching the unremarkable sitcom]]. The Emmys (which were to broadcast just a few days later) were also affected, however unlike the Latin Grammys it was simply delayed to October, then delayed ''again'' when the War on Terror really started to sizzle. The ceremony would eventually take place in November - just in time for UsefulNotes/{{sweeps}}.

* In Australia, immediately after an election is called, the leaders of the major parties are obliged to take part in a televised debate. Unfortunately, due to bad planning, the 2010 debate ran on the same night as the finale of ''[=MasterChef=]'', the most watched programme in Australian TV history. Eventually, everyone decided to hold the debate before the ''[=MasterChef=]'' finale so people could watch both.[[note]]Not that anyone watched the debate anyway, but it's the thought that counts.[[/note]]

** Likewise, in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', the first episode with Luanne's Manger Babies puppets has her getting airtime on Channel 84... opposite the Super Bowl, which puts Hank (cast as God) in a tough spot.

** American networks used to attempt to compete with whoever had the contract for the current Super Bowl -- most often airing a special against the halftime show. The practice was codified in 1992 when Fox (in)famously aired a live ''Series/InLivingColor'' special and managed to steal away at least 20 million viewers, prompting the NFL to bring in [[Music/MichaelJackson the big guns]] the following year. Nowadays, as viewership of the halftime shows are just as massive as the game itself, they don't even try. However, in 2010, Fox sacrificed new episodes of ''Series/TilDeath'' to the Super Bowl. The show had no following by that point (at least, that wasn't in it for the trainwreck fascination), and its distributor had given Fox a discount just so they could rack up enough episodes for syndication.

** One of the few bits of original programming that did air in the week following the tragedy was, of all things, ProfessionalWrestling: in a widely criticized move, [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} the WWF]] held a special live edition of ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown!]]'' just two days after 9/11 that featured matches put on just to entertain the fans (no storylines were advanced). Wrestling/VinceMcMahon came out at the top of the show to beam with pride that it was the first such large gathering since the attacks, and painted it as a defiant statement against fear of terrorism. Incidentally, the reason that ''[=SmackDown!=]'' was a "special live edition" was that the show was originally scheduled to tape on Tuesday... September 11. That event, naturally, got cancelled.

* For a period, Creator/{{CTV}} counter-programmed ''Series/HockeyNightInCanada'' on Saturday evenings with a marathon of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' reruns (as if [[AdoredByTheNetwork it doesn't get run enough by CTV and its sister networks to begin with]]) that it was dubbed ''Big Bang Night in Canada''.

* On UsefulNotes/SuperBowl Sunday, the cable channel Creator/AnimalPlanet schedules a program called the "Series/PuppyBowl" -- basically, extended footage of puppies playing in an enclosure resembling a football stadium, along with "play-by-play" commentary (for many years provided by famed sportscaster Harry Kalas). From the second Puppy Bowl onwards, they had a kitten halftime show, 2013 introduced hedgehog cheerleaders, and 2014 featured guest spots from Franchise/TheMuppets (as a tie-in with the then-upcoming ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted''). Over the years, the Puppy Bowl has become popular enough to crawl out of No Hoper territory. While not coming close to competing with the Super Bowl's viewership, it's repeatedly broken Animal Planet's network records, with ratings increasing from 690K when it premiered in 2005 to 10 million in 2012. It's also gotten popular enough to have its own [[FollowTheLeader imitators]], such as the ''[[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Kitten]]'' [[EverythingsCuterWithKittens Bowl]] which airs on Hallmark Channel (which got a Cat Bowl spinoff in 2019, {{invert|edTrope}}ing the SpinoffBabies trope).

** American networks used to attempt to compete with whoever had the contract for the current Super Bowl -- most often airing a special against the halftime show. The practice was codified in 1992 when Fox (in)famously aired a live ''Series/InLivingColor'' special and managed to steal away at least 20 million viewers, prompting the NFL to bring in [[Music/MichaelJackson the big guns]] the following year. Nowadays, as viewership of the halftime shows are just as massive as the game itself, they don't even try.
*** However, in 2010, Fox sacrificed new episodes of ''Series/TilDeath'' to the Super Bowl. The show had no following by that point (at least, that wasn't in it for the trainwreck fascination), and its distributor had given Fox a discount just so they could rack up enough episodes for syndication.

*** Another notable Nickelodeon Super Bowl marathon was ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} Rugrats Big Adventure Sunday]]'' in 2013, in which several episodes of ''Rugrats'' and ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'' aired for 5 hours, making it the first time the show had aired episodes on the network in years.

** One radio station in Green Bay, Wisconsin took this trope UpToEleven: they were so convinced no one would listen during a Packers Super Bowl appearance that they chose DeadAir.

** Some Creator/{{PBS}} stations aired kids' programming (including several rarely-aired and/or long-cancelled shows such as ''Series/TotsTV'', ''WesternAnimation/TheodoreTugboat'', ''Series/TheNoddyShop'' and ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresFromTheBookOfVirtues'') almost all day during the two weeks after the tragedy so that children would have '''something''' to watch besides news on the regular networks. Cable networks such as Creator/DisneyChannel, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} and Creator/CartoonNetwork, as well as UPN's Disney One Too block, presumably followed their example.

** Cartoon Network showed an all-day ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' marathon, followed by the premiere of the miniseries ''WesternAnimation/AquamanKingOfAtlantis'' and the new ''Teen Titans Go!'' episode "Finding Aquaman".

* In an unusual case of a network running no-hopers ''against themselves'', [=ESPN2=] usually dug out poker to run against ''Series/MondayNightFootball'' during the gap between the start of NFL season and the start of college basketball. In 2017, they decided to fill it with a Spanish simulcast from ESPN Deportes instead, which was in turn replaced by a simulcast with Peyton and Eli Manning chatting over the game with celebrity guests.

* In Australia, pay TV channel Fox Footy has live coverage of every match in the [[UsefulNotes/AustralianRulesFootball Australian Football League]] ... except for the Grand Final (which is carried exclusively by a free-to-air network). The channel still carries halftime coverage, though, and runs a countdown to said coverage on the channel during the game.