Programming
The most well-known graveyard slot in most parts of the world is the overnight television slot, after late night television and before breakfast television. During this time slot, most people that are at home are asleep, and most of those that are awake are at work, away from the television. Since the advent of home video recording, some programs in this slot may be transmitted mainly with home taping in mind. Among these are the BBC's Sign Zone and their former specialist service BBC Select, which were for specialist audiences. Some channels carry adult content in the graveyard slot, although this happens less often because most government communications regulations forbid pornography in all forms at any given time.
Since the 1980s, graveyard slots, once populated by broadcasts of syndicated reruns and old movies, have increasingly been used for program-length infomercials or simulcasting of home shopping channels, which provide a media outlet with revenue without any programming expenses. It is also a popular "dumping ground" for government-mandated public affairs programming. Also, since the proliferation of digital video recorders, several cable and satellite outlets have begun airing original or rarely-seen archival programming in these time slots to make them available to those recording them on DVRs (special restrictions prevent stations from using the overnight graveyard slot for E/I shows). An emerging trend in the United States is an increasingly early local newscast, which now begins at 4:00 a.m. in some major markets, targeting those who work early shifts; this early newscast would fit into the overnight daypart rather than breakfast television.
The graveyard slots' lack of importance sometimes benefits programs. Producers and program-makers can afford to take more risks, as there is less advertising revenue at stake. For example, an unusual or niche program may find a chance for an audience in a graveyard slot, or a formerly-popular program that no longer merits an important time slot may be allowed to run in a graveyard slot instead of being removed from the schedule completely. However, abusing this practice may lead to channel drift if the demoted programs were presented as channel stars at some time.
Read more about this topic: Graveyard Slot
Famous quotes containing the word programming:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)