History MediaNotes / ANSIStandardBroadcastTVSchedule

Such restrictions were never applicable to television, however, because TV signals travel by line-of-sight, with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_and_FM_DX some exceptions.]] Television stations were allocated by community, and the allocations were based on engineering estimates that would prevent two stations on the same channel within their reach, or even an adjacent channel. Television stations were licensed for 24 hour operations, 7 days a week if they wanted to be on that much. Notwithstanding this, in most communities up until the late 1970s or 1980s there wasn't enough programming available to have anything in the early morning (this was, of course, the age before the {{Infomercial}}), and most stations went dark during early morning. For more information about them, see UsefulNotes/AmericanTelevisionStations.

* 3 PM - 6 PM: UsefulNotes/{{Syndicat|ion}}ed talk shows and kids' shows (either syndicated, as is the case with most animation, or locally-produced). Also until the late 90's, networks would air the occasional ''Series/AfterschoolSpecial''. And as before, game shows would occasionally be scheduled here, but after the 70s runs of ''Match Game'' and ''Series/{{Tattletales}}'' ended, the networks (especially CBS) largely used the 4:00 PM slot as a dumping ground for shows they didn't really care about; CBS was the last of the Big 3 to return the slot to affiliates, which happened in 1986 after the cancellation of ''Series/PressYourLuck''.

* 8 PM - 9 PM: The first hour of UsefulNotes/PrimeTime. Usually contained "family-friendly" {{sitcom}}s due to the {{watershed}}. Although the watershed is now gone, the perception of 8 PM as a "family hour" persists. Most shows were produced by independent studios.

On Saturdays, the morning hours after the farm report would be filled with {{Saturday morning cartoon}}s, with the odd locally produced kids' show mixed in. The afternoon had sporting events, and UsefulNotes/PrimeTime was mostly {{sitcom}}s and ''The Wonderful World of Disney''.

On Sundays, the mornings would have political shows (''Series/MeetThePress'', ''Face the Nation'', ''Issues and Answers'' etc.) and religious programming. The afternoon would have sports in season. UsefulNotes/PrimeTime started an hour earlier, at 7 PM. The extra network programming was either an extra family hour such as ''The Wonderful World of Disney'' or, in the case of CBS, ''Series/SixtyMinutes''.

Things started changing in TheEighties and continued mutating through TheNineties. The Creator/{{FOX}} network started with much less network programming than the older networks -- they did weekends only until the 1989-90 season, did not program the whole week until the 1992-93 season and have always left the 10 PM slot open to affiliates (outside of a period in 1989-93 where they did air shows at 10 PM on Sundays). The fewer hours allowed them to circumvent FCC regulations that they would have if they programmed the full UsefulNotes/PrimeTime period. FOX would eventually score the NFC broadcast rights and become a serious competitor to the original three networks (by way of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_United_States_broadcast_TV_realignment a huge TV station affiliation switcheroo]] which allowed FOX to gain better VHF coverage in many markets at the expanse of the other networks [especially Creator/{{CBS}}] who had to downgrade to weaker UHF stations), but they would never have over-the-air national news, daytime game shows and soaps or 10 PM programming (despite the FCC rules having been since relaxed, probably due to virtually all FOX affiliates airing their local newscasts at that hour to great success).

The earliest years of Fox were uninspiring, since both hours of UsefulNotes/PrimeTime were family hours and Fox was unsure how to do that kind of program. But then, the requirement that there be a family hour was removed. This allowed Fox to be the model for its own version of the standard schedule, one that other new networks would follow. Here is the short version:

Meanwhile, in TheNineties, cable became common in American households. This meant that people could watch TV without watching the broadcast networks at all. This hit both broadcast stations and networks, forcing both to lower their costs, and cut into such network staples as the VarietyShow and Saturday morning children's programming. At the same time, all of the major television networks ended up in the hands of, or connected to, movie studios. Beforehand, the networks tried hard to get viewers to stay home instead of going to the movies. Now, the people making network programming also made the movies and ''wanted'' viewers to go watch them. This intensified the FridayNightDeathSlot and all but killed UsefulNotes/PrimeTime programming on Saturday.

* Sign-on: Just before the start of programming, the typical station would announce its call sign, city of license, who it was licensed by, and that it was "licensed to owner X, at a frequency of Y to Z megahertz, by order of the Federal Communications Commission." This was typically followed by the National Anthem, usually prefixed with "and now, our National Anthem." Often it was a small film that was made by someone else and given to television stations to let them use it. Sometimes it was made by religious organizations. In some cases the video of the National Anthem involved jet footage and at the end you discover it was produced by the [[ProductPlacement U.S. Air Force]]. Many stations would also display the NAB Television Code "Seal of Good Practice" here; the Code, much like the Hays Code for film, was a list of standards all commercial television stations and producers pledged to follow, which dictated (among other things) what content was allowed and how advertising worked.[[note]]The Code was partially withdrawn in the 1970s due to free speech issues, and withdrawn completely in 1982 as part of an antitrust settlement with advertisers. Even so, many stations and several long-running programs still displayed the Seal of Good Practice well into the 1990s.[[/note]]

* Sign-on: Just before the start of programming, the typical station would announce its call sign, city of license, who it was licensed by, and that it was "licensed to owner X, at a frequency of Y to Z megahertz, by order of the Federal Communications Commission." This was typically followed by the National Anthem, usually prefixed with "and now, our National Anthem." Often it was a small film that was made by someone else and given to television stations to let them use it. Sometimes it was made by religious organizations. In some cases the video of the National Anthem involved jet footage and at the end you discover it was produced by the [[ProductPlacement U.S. Air Force]]. Many stations would also display the NAB Television Code "Seal of Good Practice" here; the Code, much like the Hays Code for film, was a list of standards all commercial television stations and producers pledged to follow, which dictated (among other things) what content was allowed and how advertising worked.[[note]]The Code was partially withdrawn in the 1970s due to free speech issues, and withdrawn completely in 1982 as part of an antitrust settlement with advertisers. Even so, many stations and several long-running programs still displayed the Seal of Good Practice well into the 1990s.[[/note]]

* 7 AM - 9 AM: Network news with interruptions for local news.

* 5 PM - 6:30 PM: Local news. The early hour is usually devoted to consumer topics and health news.[[note]]Some stations in TheNewTwenties start their news period at 4 PM. '''Eastern!'''[[/note]]

* 9 PM - 10 PM: Second hour of Prime Time, and historically the biggest free-for-all in this whole iron grid. It can have edgier sitcoms or any type or drama, from a BuddyCopShow to a prime-time soap. Also, networks would often air the first half a movie (some feature films, same made-for-TV) in this slot.

* 3 AM - 5 AM: Infomercials, risqué; local or syndicated programming, {{Rerun}}s of shows that ran during Prime Time or late night, and the sorts of programs that used to come directly after the local news. For CW and [=MyNetworkTV=], this slot is often filled with dating shows, programming purchased by local companies for late night talent shows, home shopping, and Shepard's Chapel, which is three hours of Bible studies (or other religious organizations such as [=CampMeeting=]). If the stations decide not to go this route, ABC and CBS continue to distribute their overnight newscasts to affiliates, while NBC throws on a same-day replay of the Kathie Lee/Hoda hour of ''Today'' before moving on to ''Early Today'' and starting the day loop anew). On weekends, ABC and CBS leave it to the affiliates to fill the time (usually with off-network runs of dramas, movies, and {{Filler}} programming such as one of Byron Allen's 20 infotainment shows), while NBC repeats that weekend's ''Series/MeetThePress'', {{Filler}} programming from WNBC about expensive open houses and dining in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, and 18-week-old episodes of ''Series/{{Dateline}}''. When a sufficient number of channels have content at this hour — and most cable is 24-hour — broadcast stations lose out if they shut down, and find themselves experiencing [[WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties technical difficulties]] in the digital age if they don't leave the transmitter on, even with just rolling weather radar or color bars.

* 9 AM - 3 PM: Local and syndicated programming. As an example, on WTTG Washington (one of Fox's original 6 owned stations) in TheEighties, this would consist of a few hours of sitcoms sourced from Creator/{{Viacom}}, followed by old movies (they especially liked the old Penny Singleton ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'' movies). In the East, many independent stations aired a "Mass for shut-ins" weekdays from a local church to allow those confined to their homes to worship (some stations do continue this tradition). These days you're more likely to find ''Series/JudgeJudy'' clones or, at worst, infomercials.