Broadcast programmingorschedulingis the practice of organizingtelevisionorradio programsin a daily, weekly, or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters usebroadcast automationto regularly change the scheduling of their programs to build an audience for a new show, retain that audience, or compete with other broadcasters programs. In the United Kingdom, this is known asTV listings.Television scheduling strategies are employed to give programs the best possible chance of attracting and retaining an audience. They are used to deliver programs to audiences when they are mostlikely to want to watch them and deliver audiences to advertisers in the compositionthat makes their advertising most likely to be effective (Ellis 2000 p. 136). Digitally based broadcast programming mechanisms are known aselectronic program guides(EPG).At a micro level, scheduling is the minute planning of the transmission; what to broadcast and when, ensuring that every second of airtime is covered.Programming historyWith the beginning of scheduled television in 1936, television programming was initially only concerned with filling a few hours each evening – the hours now knownasprime time. Over time, though, television began to be seen during the day time and late at night, as well on the weekends. As air time increased so did the demand for new material. With the exception ofsports television, variety programs became much more important inprime time.Scheduling strategiesBlock programmingMain article:Block programmingBlock programmingoccurs when the television network schedules similar programs back-to-back. The concept is to provide similar programming to retain viewership.CrossprogrammingMain article:fictional crossoverCrossprogramminginvolves the interconnection of two shows. This is achieved by extending a storyline over two episodes of two different programs.BridgingBridgingis being used when a station tries to prevent the audience from changing channels during a junction point - the main evening breaks where all channels stop programs and shift gear (Ellis, 2000). This isachieved in a number of ways including: having a program already underway and something compelling happening at a junction point, running a program late so that people ‘hang around’ and miss the start of other programs, ortelevision advertisingthe next program during the credits of the previous.CounterprogrammingMain article:CounterprogrammingCounterprogrammingis used when a time period is filled with a program whose appeal is different from the opponent program because it is a different genre or appeals to a different demographic.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 11:38:05 +0000
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