How do the TV networks account for the time shift while entering/leaving daylight savings time?

March 22, 2004 10:35 AM

How do the TV networks account for the time shift while entering/leaving daylight savings time? [More inside]

This has had me stumped for years. Next month we'll all lose an hour, and in the fall we'll gain an hour (offer valid only in participating jurisdictions). With virtually every TV station broadcasting around-the-clock, you'd think that they have to pay attention to that hour, but the printed program listings just ignore it. Even my TiVo tells me what will be broadcast during the nonexistent hour, and it really ought to know better.

So what happens? Will the stations store the tape of what's scheduled to be broadcast at 2am and store it until October when they have an extra hour to kill? Is there a general practice at all?

posted by ewagoner to media & arts (5 comments total)

Don't TV stations play mostly filler at that time of night? It's not like they preempt Fraiser or something popular because of DST.
posted by bondcliff at 10:46 AM on March 22, 2004

You need to get better listings. Perhaps online listings don't handle it brilliantly (lord knows, the listings I use can't even handle it properly if I check them between 11:30PM and midnight on any day). TV Guide typically puts a small break in the column, with some text explaining the time change in bold. Then there's either a duplicate hour, or an hour missing.

The TV networks know that the hour is coming, just like it does every year at that time, and program more or less infomercials as necessary. 2 o'clock in the morning is not prime programming time.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:04 AM on March 22, 2004

And I always thought people paid for TV Guide(tm) for the articles. I guess the listings are better, too! I've never seen it accounted for in other publication's listings. Thanks, jacquilynne.
posted by ewagoner at 11:16 AM on March 22, 2004

TVLand showed two episodes of Emergency! at the same time back in 2000 because of the time change.

It was mildly amusing.
posted by Katemonkey at 3:15 PM on March 22, 2004

I actually stay up to celebrate DST's beginning and end... it's like New Year's twice a year!

Anyway, my digital cable listings are usually strangely correct, like having listings for 2:00am, 2:30am, and 2:00am again in the fall, and listings for 1:00am, 1:30am, and then 3:00am in the Spring.
posted by ALongDecember at 7:54 PM on March 22, 2004