History MediaNotes / ANSIStandardBroadcastTVSchedule

* 12:30 PM - 3 PM: {{Soap opera}}s (from the network) or {{reality show}}s (syndicated or local), or more daytime talk shows as the networks cancel more soaps. The number of soaps on the air shrank to four in 2012, the fewest in almost 60 years, and then shrank further to three in 2022 after ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'' moved exclusively to Creator/{{Peacock}}. Those CBS markets that don't air ''LMAD'' at 10 AM air it after ''The Talk'' at 3 PM.

* 3 PM - 5 PM: Syndicated game shows and talk shows.[[note]]This was still 6 PM during the TurnOfTheMillennium and is still the case for some stations, but these are becoming the exception in TheNewTens rather than the rule.[[/note]]
* 5 PM - 6:30 PM: Local news. The early hour is usually devoted to consumer topics and health news.[[note]]Some stations in TheNewTens start their news period at 4 PM. '''Eastern!'''[[/note]]

* 5 AM - 7 AM: Local or network news. In some markets the local news begins now at 4:30 AM to provide some kind of update to those viewers who come in from a '''really''' distant city and have a long commute into work [[note]]examples include Port Jervis (NY), New Haven (CT), or anywhere on Long Island past about Ronkonkoma into UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity; Petaluma or most of the South Bay into UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco; Harvard, Illinois into UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}; Fredericksburg, VA, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, or southern PA into UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC or UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}.[[/note]]. Can go to as early as 4 AM on special days like snowstorms or major news events, though as of 2014, 4 AM is becoming the new default start time for many local newscasts in the larger markets (this figures the staff is there by 3 AM and is already being paid in the makeup chair, so get them to work as soon as possible). Some stations may also play ID/license announcements and/or the National Anthem around this time.

** Note: Usually the lower-tier network stations of Creator/TheCW or Creator/MyNetworkTV (unless they're in a major market or, prior to 2016, carried ''The Daily Buzz'', a national morning program) have thrown in the towel and air mainly infomercials between 5 AM and 9 AM to make something out of literally nothing, or if they're lucky to be a Sinclair station between 2017 and 2019, ''Creator/KidsClick''.[[note]]Although some of these lower-tier stations (even those that don't have a news department of their own) now often carry a local newscast, particularly one produced by a sister station, in this timeslot; some of these newscasts run as late as 10 AM.[[/note]] Educational and informational programming, which has taken over for children's programming abandoned to the niche cable networks and PBS, also airs within this time to satisfy license concerns.

* 12:30 PM - 3 PM: {{Soap opera}}s (from the network) or {{reality show}}s (syndicated or local), or more daytime talk shows as the networks cancel more soaps. The number of soaps on the air shrank to four in 2012, the fewest in almost 60 years. Those CBS markets that don't air ''LMAD'' at 10 AM air it after ''The Talk'' at 3 PM.

* 7 PM - 8 PM (6:30 to 7 p.m. Central due to prime time beginning an hour earlier): Syndicated or local programming (some stations may air a summary newscast at 7 PM for late-traveling commuters). Near universally this is where you'll find the ''{{Series/Jeopardy}}''-''Series/WheelOfFortune'' GameShow block (a rare few stations carry ''Jeopardy!'' earlier in the day, often reruns from the previous season, but "The ''Wheel''" is always on around this time no matter the market), along with ''Series/EntertainmentTonight'' in syndication (plus whatever show it's paired with- in the 90s it was the tabloid newsmagazine ''Hard Copy'', in the late 90s-early 2000s it was a revival of ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'', from the mid-2000s well into the 2010s it was ''The Insider'', and since the latter's cancellation, it's been ''Inside Edition'').

The morning schedule for Central and Mountain time was the same as Eastern time because shows such as ''Today'', ''Good Morning America'', ''The Price is Right'' and the soaps were recorded and played back at the corresponding time slot in the Central and Mountain zones, a practice that continues today. In fact, if you look during a morning news show, the notation during a breaking news event will say "Live Eastern Time." Viewers in all other time zones are likely seeing the event on tape delay, or even with editing, just to make sure the damage of Creator/JaneFonda or a couple of girls dropping the "[[PrecisionFStrike C-bomb]]" on morning television (which has actually happened) or some guy mooning the ''GMA'' window won't go across the entire country. This is nearly the same with ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', though the Central zone has always gotten that show live, and starting on April 15, 2017, the Mountain and Pacific zones will get it live as well.

Website/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_time_zones_on_North_American_broadcasting an extensive article]] on how time zones affect broadcasting in North America.

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 60 Minutes]]''.

* 6:30 PM - 7PM (5:30 to 6 p.m. Central): National news from the network. Although certain Fox affiliates (regardless of market) - and in some larger markets - CW, Creator/MyNetworkTV and independent stations may fill this slot with local newscasts[[note]]Major network stations in the Pacific and Eastern Time Zones typically fill the 5:30 PM slot with local news due to the national newscasts being one hour later in those areas[[/note]].
* 7 PM - 8 PM (6:30 to 7 p.m. Central due to prime time beginning an hour earlier): Syndicated or local programming (some stations may air a summary newscast at 7 PM for late-travelling commuters). Near universally this is where you'll find the ''{{Series/Jeopardy}}''-''Series/WheelOfFortune'' GameShow block (a rare few stations carry ''Jeopardy!'' earlier in the day, often reruns from the previous season, but "The ''Wheel''" is always on around this time no matter the market), along with ''Series/EntertainmentTonight'' in syndication (plus whatever show it's paired with- in the 90s it was the tabloid newsmagazine ''Hard Copy'', in the late 90s-early 2000s it was a revival of ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'', from the mid-2000s well into the 2010s it was ''The Insider'', and since the latter's cancellation, it's been ''Inside Edition'').

* 5 AM - 7 AM: Local news programming aimed at farmers and early-rising business people. There were quite a few stations that didn't bother to start broadcasting until 6:45 AM, and even a few that let the network morning show start them off at 7 AM. A religious interlude usually started off the day after the national anthem. Often a short news/weather update and farm price information was given to help the early risers get some information before they got the paper off the doorstep.

* 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 displayed the Seal of Good Practice well into the 1990s.[[/note]]

* 1 AM - 5 AM: Graveyard slot. However if the network carried a newscast like ABC's ''Series/WorldNewsNow'', CBS's ''Up to the Minute'' or the late, great ''NBC News Overnight'' or its successor ''NBC Nightside'' (all of which, except for ''Overnight'', was just either a half-hour or ninety minutes of an earlier taped newscast looped over and over) and the stations didn't want to dig up their own programming, this is where it went, followed at 4:30 AM by an evening news-like morning newscast.

* Central, which stretches from Illinois and Alabama in the east to [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]] and the Great Plains in the west. In common parlance, it more or less means Chicago and the western half of the South. For Central time, subtract an hour from everything.

* UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}} and UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}}, which aren't considered part of the continental US, are both in their own time zones.

On Sundays, the mornings would have political shows (''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 60 Minutes]]''.

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. Before this happened, 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.

* 11:35 PM - 3 AM: Late night programming. Networks with successful late night talk shows and news shows may air them this late. Networks with unsuccessful talk shows and news shows will likely have those shows preempted or delayed by local programming. CBS goes to 1:35 AM with their shows, while ABC ends at 1:05 AM, and NBC is the latest at 2:05 AM (though technically as seen below it just leads into a repeat of the fourth hour of ''Today'' at 2:05 AM if a station goes by the default NBC schedule).
* 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 ''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.

Creator/{{NBC}} caused a huge uproar in 2009 when it ran ''Series/TheJayLenoShow'' at 10 PM Eastern because it was very much like ''Series/TheTonightShow with Jay Leno'', only more evenly distributed. (Viewers at 10 PM are less likely to go to bed before the show is over.) People predicted that NBC would destroy network television this way, even though that hour is currently completely unused by two of its competitors (three if you count Creator/MyNetworkTV, and you probably shouldn't). This violation took at least a temporary toll on NBC, though. (Moving ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' an hour earlier severely hurt its ratings, because it ran in what is otherwise a ''de facto'' family hour.) As expected, this failed miserably — not because Leno's show lost money (it was ''so'' cheap to produce that it couldn't lose money as long as a few advertising spots were sold), but because Leno's ratings were killing the late local news on NBC's affiliates. When the affiliates threatened to dump Leno and put either syndicated content or their late news in the 10 PM hour, NBC blinked, cancelled the primetime Leno show, and paid Creator/ConanOBrien millions of dollars to go away so that Leno could get the Tonight Show back. Some people believe [[BatmanGambit this is what Leno wanted all along]], or at least after NBC forced him to "retire" from the Tonight Show [[note]]The announcement of Conan taking over ''The Tonight Show'' after Leno retired, by the way, occurred not long after Craig Kilborn left ''Series/TheLateLateShow'' and before Creator/CraigFerguson was chosen as the replacement, so some believe it was just a way to keep Conan from leaving NBC like Letterman did.[[/note]].

* 1 AM - 5 AM However if the network carried a newscast like ABC's ''Series/WorldNewsNow'', CBS's ''Up to the Minute'' or the late, great ''NBC News Overnight'' or its successor ''NBC Nightside'' (all of which, except for ''Overnight'', was just either a half-hour or ninety minutes of an earlier taped newscast looped over and over) and the stations didn't want to dig up their own programming, this is where it went, followed at 4:30 AM by an evening news-like morning newscast.

* 3 PM - 6 PM: Syndicated talk shows, cartoons, or kids' programming. During the Fox Kids era, the 2-5 PM block was ''network''. Some Fox stations have started running news during the 5 PM slot in recent years (mainly the bigger stations, or else former Big Three stations that switched to Fox in the 90s and kept it).

Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_time_zones_on_North_American_broadcasting an extensive article]] on how time zones affect broadcasting in North America.

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

* 11:30 PM - 1 AM: Late night. Dominated in the 1960s and 1970s by Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Series/TheTonightShow''; the Creator/{{ABC}} news program ''Series/{{Nightline}}'', launched in 1980, was the first serious competitor. Creator/{{CBS}} subsisted on action drama repeats, shows rejected for prime time and made-for-TV movies in this slot (notwithstanding the one season Pat Sajak hosted a talk show for them) until they poached Creator/DavidLetterman for ''The Late Show'' in the early 1990s. Stations that did not have a network show running in this slot would play a movie (often the kind that ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' liked to riff on) after the local news, and then go dark or show the test pattern until the 5 AM farm report, looping the sign on announcement with proper mentions of them saying goodnight instead. In TheEighties, {{infomercial}}s changed that because they were willing to temporarily pay the cost of running the station to hawk their products.

Note that this schedule only applies in the Eastern and Pacific time zones, which correspond roughly to the East and West Coasts respectively, and some areas further inland. This is because the two main television production centers in the United States, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, are in these time zones.[[note]]UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC is also on Eastern time, so if breaking news or an important political event happens there, it can actually become more important than either.[[/note]] For Central time (which is generally UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} but includes basically everything west of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} and UsefulNotes/{{Indianapolis}}, and east of UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} and El Paso), subtract an hour from everything. Mountain Time uses the Central Time schedule by taping the east coast feed and playing it back at the appropriate time. And now you know what "8/7 Central" means.

* 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]].

Note that this schedule only applies in the Eastern and Pacific time zones, which correspond roughly to the East and West Coasts respectively, and some areas further inland. This is because the two main television production centers in the United States, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, are in these time zones. For Central time (which is generally UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} but includes basically everything west of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} and UsefulNotes/{{Indianapolis}}, and east of UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} and El Paso), subtract an hour from everything. Mountain Time uses the Central Time schedule by taping the east coast feed and playing it back at the appropriate time. And now you know what "8/7 Central" means.

* 5 AM - 7 AM: Local or network news. In some markets the local news begins now at 4:30 AM to provide some kind of update to those viewers who come in from a '''really''' distant city and have a long commute into work (say, Petaluma into UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, or Harvard, Illinois into UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}). Can go to as early as 4 AM on special days like snowstorms or major news events, though as of 2014, 4 AM is becoming the new default start time for many local newscasts in the larger markets (this figures the staff is there by 3 AM and is already being paid in the makeup chair, so get them to work as soon as possible). Some stations may also play ID/license announcements and/or the National Anthem around this time.

** Note: Usually the lower-tier network stations of Creator/TheCW or Creator/MyNetworkTV (unless they're in a major market or, prior to 2016, carried ''The Daily Buzz'', a national morning program) have thrown in the towel and air mainly infomercials between 5 AM and 9 AM to make something out of literally nothing, or if they're lucky to be a Sinclair station as of 2017, ''Creator/KidsClick''.[[note]]Although some of these lower-tier stations (even those that don't have a news department of their own) now often carry a local newscast, particularly one produced by a sister station, in this timeslot; some of these newscasts run as late as 10 AM.[[/note]] Educational and informational programming, which has taken over for children's programming abandoned to the niche cable networks and PBS, also airs within this time to satisfy license concerns.

* 7 PM - 8 PM (6:30 to 7 p.m. Central due to prime time beginning an hour earlier): Syndicated or local programming (some stations may air a summary newscast at 7 PM for late-travelling commuters). Near universally this is where you'll find the ''{{Series/Jeopardy}}''-''Series/WheelOfFortune'' GameShow block (a rare few stations carry ''Jeopardy!'' earlier in the day, often reruns from the previous season, but "The ''Wheel''" is always on around this time no matter the market), along with ''Series/EntertainmentTonight'' in syndication (plus whatever show it's paired with- in the 90s it was the tabloid newsmagazine ''Hard Copy'', in the late 90s-early 2000s it was a revival of ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'', from the mid-200s well into the 2010s it was ''The Insider'', and since the latter's cancellation, it's been ''Inside Edition'').

* 7 PM - 8 PM (6:30 to 7 p.m. Central due to prime time beginning an hour earlier): Syndicated or local programming (some stations may air a summary newscast at 7 PM for late-travelling commuters). Near universally this is where you'll find the ''{{Series/Jeopardy}}''-''Series/WheelOfFortune'' GameShow block (a rare few stations carry ''Jeopardy!'' earlier in the day, often reruns from the previous season, but "The ''Wheel''" is always on around this time no matter the market), along with ''Series/EntertainmentTonight'' in syndication (plus whatever show it's paired with- in the 90s it was the tabloid newsmagazine ''Hard Copy'', in the late 90s-early 2000s it was a revival of ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'' and since 2004 it's been ''The Insider'').

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.

Such restrictions were never applicable to television, however. 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.

In the United States, because of shortages of space on the radio dial, and the fact that AM radio could travel hundreds of miles, some radio stations were restricted to daytime only or having other restrictions to allow older stations to continue to cover larger areas.

Things started changing in TheEighties and continued mutating through TheNineties. The Creator/{{Fox}} network started with much less network programming than the older networks -- only two hours of UsefulNotes/PrimeTime ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992-93_American_network_television_schedule four]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993-94_United_States_network_television_schedule then three]], on Sunday.) and the occasional talk show. The original excuse was that it was a start-up network; but things never changed (although for a couple years the network experimented with 10pm Sunday programming; low ratings and affiliate pressure forced them to dump it). The fewer hours were also to reduce some FCC regulations that it would have if it programmed the full three hours. Fox would eventually score sports programming and become a serious competitor to the original three networks, but they would never have over-the-air national news, daytime games and soaps, or the 10 PM hour of UsefulNotes/PrimeTime.

* 7 PM - 8 PM (6:30 to 7 p.m. Central due to prime time beginning an hour earlier): Syndicated or local programming (some stations may air a summary newscast at 7 PM for late-travelling commuters). Near universally this is where you'll find the ''{{Series/Jeopardy}}''-''Series/WheelOfFortune'' GameShow block (a rare few stations carry ''Jeopardy!'' earlier in the day (often reruns from the previous season), but "The ''Wheel''" is always on around this time no matter the market), along with ''Series/EntertainmentTonight'' in syndication (plus whatever show it's paired with- in the 90s it was the tabloid newsmagazine ''Hard Copy'', in the late 90s-early 2000s it was a revival of ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'' and since 2004 it's been ''The Insider'').

* Signon: 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]].

The morning schedule for Central and Mountain time was the same as Eastern time because shows such as ''Today'', ''Good Morning America'', ''The Price is Right'' and the soaps were recorded and played back at the corresponding time slot in the Central and Mountain zones, a practice that continues today. In fact, if you look during a morning news show, the notation during a breaking news event will say "Live Eastern Time." Viewers in all other time zones are likely seeing the event on tape delay, or even with editing, just to make sure the damage of JaneFonda or a couple of girls dropping the "[[PrecisionFStrike C-bomb]]" on morning television (which has actually happened) or some guy mooning the ''GMA'' window won't go across the entire country. This is nearly the same with ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', though the Central zone has always gotten that show live, and starting on April 15, 2017, the Mountain and Pacific zones will get it live as well.

Things started changing in TheEighties and continued mutating through TheNineties. The {{Fox}} network started with much less network programming than the older networks -- only two hours of UsefulNotes/PrimeTime ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992-93_American_network_television_schedule four]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993-94_United_States_network_television_schedule then three]], on Sunday.) and the occasional talk show. The original excuse was that it was a start-up network; but things never changed (although for a couple years the network experimented with 10pm Sunday programming; low ratings and affiliate pressure forced them to dump it). The fewer hours were also to reduce some FCC regulations that it would have if it programmed the full three hours. Fox would eventually score sports programming and become a serious competitor to the original three networks, but they would never have over-the-air national news, daytime games and soaps, or the 10 PM hour of UsefulNotes/PrimeTime.

* 8 PM- 11 PM: Prime Time from the network. Usually, it's laid out as if the {{watershed}} still holds, but the content no longer has to fit. {{Reality show}}s are as common as dramas and sitcoms now, as are prime-time game shows ([[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire often trying to ape]] ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''). For Fox and TheCW, Prime Time ends at 10 PM[[note]]As with Fox stations, many lower-tier stations such as CW and Creator/MyNetworkTV affiliates carry a local newscast during the 10 PM (9 PM Central/Mountain) timeslot, either produced by the station itself in some larger markets or commonly, produced by another local station as with the 7-9 AM note above.[[/note]]. With the rise of [=TiVo=] and [=DVRs=], 10 PM has become a major trouble spot for the Big Three networks as viewers use this time to catch up on early shows that were roadblocked by other network shows they like and unable to be watched live, or much more adult-focused cable shows that take advantage of the 10 PM weakness.

* 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'' and CNBC's ''Mad Money'' (though due to the new 4 AM local news start, this is often pre-empted so a local station can get in ''Early Today''). 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 ''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.

** Note: Usually the lower-tier network stations of Creator/TheCW or Creator/MyNetworkTV (unless they're in a major market or, prior to 2016, carried ''The Daily Buzz'', a national morning program) have thrown in the towel and air mainly infomercials between 5 AM and 9 AM to make something out of literally nothing.[[note]]Although some of these lower-tier stations (even those that don't have a news department of their own) now often carry a local newscast, particularly one produced by a sister station, in this timeslot; some of these newscasts run as late as 10 AM.[[/note]] Educational and informational programming, which has taken over for children's programming abandoned to the niche cable networks and PBS, also airs within this time to satisfy license concerns.