Stunting (broadcasting) - Stunting On Television

Stunting On Television

Radio-like stunts on television are not as commonplace as they are on radio. Television stations often have pre-existing programming commitments. Also, a television station, since it is now usually in competition with a large number of other television channels, may not be attract enough attention to justify the loss of time, television audience, and its associated advertising revenue during a longer transition. Instead, a TV station or network may stunt in the form of a heavily promoted event, as in the case of promoting new on-air branding, station affiliation change, or acquisition of programming or personnel; an increase in publicity (and with it, the station hopes, viewer anticipation) will increase as the changeover date nears. A prime example of this promo-type stunting involved British cable channel Bravo, which in January 1997 used a series of eerily produced promos to herald a change in programming tone (including mutations of the network's old and new visual presentations). Marathons, the sequential broadcast of several episodes of the same series, are quite common.

At least two networks have used stunting-type events prior to their formal launches. MLB Network, for example, aired a continuous loop of baseball highlights and promos as a "soft launch" in the weeks before its formal debut on January 1, 2009, while Canada's Sun News Network employed an on-screen countdown clock graphic in the hours before its April 18, 2011 launch.