TV Stations With More Than 1 Network, Who Decided Which Programs?

[azumanga]

The [Prime Time Access] rule went into effect in late 1971 and as I understand it, initially applied to *all* stations. (regardless of market size) It was later amended to apply to only top-50 markets (when?), and repealed in 1996.

I read somewhere that after the rule was amended to apply only to the top 50 markets, it also practically kept #51 and #52 markets on notice, as it would mean schedule changes to comply with the rule. I read somewhere that a network affiliate in Albany NY scheduled "Married With Children" reruns during the 7PM hour in the early-1990s, when the market was above #50; but when new rankings came inthat moved Albany to either #50 or below, they were forced to move Married out of the time slot and replace it with a game or talk show.

 

[w9wi]

The [Prime Time Access] rule went into effect in late 1971 and as I understand it, initially applied to *all* stations. (regardless of market size) It was later amended to apply to only top-50 markets (when?), and repealed in 1996.

I read somewhere that after the rule was amended to apply only to the top 50 markets, it also practically kept #51 and #52 markets on notice, as it would mean schedule changes to comply with the rule. I read somewhere that a network affiliate in Albany NY scheduled "Married With Children" reruns during the 7PM hour in the early-1990s, when the market was above #50; but when new rankings came inthat moved Albany to either #50 or below, they were forced to move Married out of the time slot and replace it with a game or talk show.

Did the PTAR prohibit airing *reruns* of network shows in the 4th hour? (I don't remember and the online references I've had time to look up don't say)

Pulling back the PTAR to only affect top-50 markets didn't directly affect the networks themselves -- they sure weren't going to provide a fourth hour of programming for air only in smaller markets, and I suspect many smaller-market stations would have resisted taking it. "Access" programming has been fairly lucrative for the affiliates.

 

[bpatrick]

In a market like Great Falls, which is outside the top 50, the access rule would not have come into play, and it would have been perfectly legal to run delayed network shows (or live feeds of shows airing 8-9 ET) in the 6-7 slot.

(emphasis mine)

You mention the Prime Time Access Rule in passing. By my reading, this rule would have prevented the extended prime time concept for significant periods.

The rule went into effect in late 1971 and as I understand it, initially applied to *all* stations. (regardless of market size) It was later amended to apply to only top-50 markets (when?), and repealed in 1996.

What the rule did, was to prevent stations from airing network programs for more than 3 of the 4-hour "prime time" period.

The first year of the rule (1971-72) the networks were restricted to 21 hours a week of prime time; there were some cases that first year where the networks would have to make up the time; for example, ABC programmed 7:30-11 on Tuesday and made up the 7:30 Tuesday half-hour on Mondays at 8:30 (a number of stations in NFL cities ran local coaches' shows before "Monday Night Football"); NBC programmed 7:30-11 Sunday and made up the half-hour on Fridays at 10:30, while CBS aired three hours every night, but from 7:30-10:30 on Tuesday and Sunday. The affiliates themselves, regardless of market size, could carry anything they wanted (WAGA, for example, reran "I Dream Of Jeannie" at 7:30 that first year).

It was in the fall of 1972 that the no-off-network reruns rule went into effect in the top 50 markets; if a station did air a delayed network program it would have to make up the time somewhere else (WBTV Charlotte would run "The Waltons" on a week-behind Thursdays at 7:30, followed by a syndicated show at 8:30, so there was no violation of the rule). ABC went with an 8-11 schedule every night; CBS and NBC chose to go 7:30-10:30 Sundays (mainly because Disney was on NBC) and give back 10:30-11; ABC did this as well in the 1973-74 season. In 1975 the rule was amended again, allowing the networks to program 7-11 Sundays, but the first hour had to be either public affairs or children's programming (this allowed CBS to put "60 Minutes" at 7 against kids' programming on ABC and NBC, and the rest is history).

True, some non-top-50 market stations would air network shows (WMAZ Macon, GA, a CBS primary, aired delayed ABC shows like "The Odd Couple" and "The Partridge Family" at 7:30, but it would make up the difference with a syndicated show, usually Friday 8-9, when CBS was weak). So if I understand you, and I believe you are correct, those stations in Great Falls could have aired network shows from 6-7 (MT), provided they made up the time somewhere else; if so, my mistake, since I thought the access rule had no restrictions outside the top 50.

One other point: technically, the rule applied to 7-8 PM (ET/PT); however, affiliates were allowed to carry network news at 7, and generally got around the rule by airing an hour of local news beforehand (at one time, all three affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston, and Atlanta had their network newscasts at 7).

And yes, the rule was eliminated in 1996 and yes, stations still want the 7:30 timeslot for themselves, since it's very lucrative.

 

[azumanga]

One other point: technically, the rule applied to 7-8 PM (ET/PT); however, affiliates were allowed to carry network news at 7, and generally got around the rule by airing an hour of local news beforehand (at one time, all three affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston, and Atlanta had their network newscasts at 7).

Some stations had a news hour at 6PM and network news at 7PM, long before PTAR went into effect -- WTVT in Tampa had news at 6 and Walter Cronkite at 7 from the late-1960s up until around the affiliation switch in 1994.

 

[cd637299]

IIRC (I wish I had the grid again!), the famous WAGM-TV 8 in Presque Isle, ME (welllll outside the top 50), used 7-8 pm EST for NBC shows (maybe ABC, but as I recall, not in the schedule I had). They were primary CBS. I had their sked in 1995 sent to me. At that time, they were also running FOX for NFL. I think that the only ABC shows were Saturday morning fare delayed a week.

When I received it, the in-pattern CBS was untouched. But it sure wasn't always that way.

TV Guide had a 1977 issue, all about WAGM. It was a good read. One weeknight I believe they had 1 hour from each of the Big 3, and a recent Classic TV post showed another big-3 night of WAGM.

I believe I even spoke to the PD on the phone then. She had quite a job on her hands!

cd

 

[bpatrick]

One other point: technically, the rule applied to 7-8 PM (ET/PT); however, affiliates were allowed to carry network news at 7, and generally got around the rule by airing an hour of local news beforehand (at one time, all three affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston, and Atlanta had their network newscasts at 7).

Some stations had a news hour at 6PM and network news at 7PM, long before PTAR went into effect -- WTVT in Tampa had news at 6 and Walter Cronkite at 7 from the late-1960s up until around the affiliation switch in 1994.

I remember that; likewise, WSB carried NBC News at 7 starting, IIRC, in 1967, switching to ABC in 1980. The point is, PTAR did not force any stations to move their network news out of the 7 PM slot.

 

[bpatrick]

To go back to the case of Great Falls, I was looking at the Museum
of Broadcast Communications' article on PTAR, and I'm convinced that
stations there could have aired four hours of network programming;
according to the article, only o&os and affiliates in the top 50 markets
were restricted to three hours of network programming (with the exception of
network news at 7 if they did an extra half-hour of local news prior to 7), so now I
can't see why a station in Great Falls couldn't program network fare from 6 to 10,
being well outside the top 50 markets.

 

[Markxxx]

This was the case I know KGWN in Cheyanne, used to run it's prime time from 6pm - 10pm. I had an old schedule and they were affiliated with ABC, NBC, CBS at the time and picked shows from all three networks. They used to run the network news from both NBC (4pm) and CBS (4:30pm). This was around 1978.

 

[TexasTom]

This was the case I know KGWN in Cheyanne, used to run it's prime time from 6pm - 10pm. I had an old schedule and they were affiliated with ABC, NBC, CBS at the time and picked shows from all three networks. They used to run the network news from both NBC (4pm) and CBS (4:30pm). This was around 1978.

Carrying NBC news at 4 PM seems impossible -- since the NBC newscast originated live at 6:30 PM ET, with a delayed broadcast at 7 PM. With Mountain Time being two hours behind the east coast, the works out to a live broadcast at 4:30 PM MT.

On a different topic (the prime time access rule, PTAR), a couple of points:

1. If the PTAR ever applied to markets below the top 50, it did so only briefly -- and it certainly didn't apply to those markets by the summer of 1974.

2. In the top 50 markets, a limited waiver applied to carrying the network newscast during the first half hour of prime time (7 PM ET/PT, 6 PM CT/MT). In order for a station to take advantage of this waiver, the network news had to be scheduled immediately after a local newscast that was at least one hour long.

 

[jh]

Carrying NBC news at 4 PM seems impossible -- since the NBC newscast originated live at 6:30 PM ET, with a delayed broadcast at 7 PM. With Mountain Time being two hours behind the east coast, the works out to a live broadcast at 4:30 PM MT.

Maybe it was ABC instead of NBC? ABC for a long time had a 6pm ET feed, and even had a 5:30pm ET time for awhile when they first went to a half-hour.

 

[jh]

I would have jumped in head first[/b], with something like 60% CBS 40% ABC.

If you had a couple of VTRs sitting around, you could have done something cool, like create an extended prime time (if you're willing to give up or delay the late news), and use the secondary network's daytime schedule to fill the late afternoon and prime access slots.

I guess some stations could have taken one network's prime time from 8-11 ET, then taken another net from 8-11 PT. I haven't seen any schedules indicating anyone actually DID this, but it's cool to imagine.

When much of this was happening... back in the 60s and 70s... some of this wouldn't have been possible. The networks were fed by microwave, not satellite. The microwave feeds were expensive and it's likely at least some of the stations only had access to a live feed from their primary network. One of the original posters said he worked at such a station and they could only receive one network at a time.

Some of the secondary networks were probably received over the air from the nearest affiliate. Some of the shows may have been kines mailed out from the network or video taped at a nearby affiliate and shipped by bus to the station.

 

[bpatrick]

Carrying NBC news at 4 PM seems impossible -- since the NBC newscast originated live at 6:30 PM ET, with a delayed broadcast at 7 PM. With Mountain Time being two hours behind the east coast, the works out to a live broadcast at 4:30 PM MT.

Maybe it was ABC instead of NBC? ABC for a long time had a 6pm ET feed, and even had a 5:30pm ET time for awhile when they first went to a half-hour.

That does sound like ABC. I know that at one time Tucson, and Denver as well (IIRC), carried ABC News at 4:30 (MT), and that was at a time when the first feed would have been at 4 PM (MT).

Note slightly off-topic: besides ABC's having reached parity in affiliates and ratings by the early '80s, one of the reasons ABC dropped the 6 PM feed was because most of the stations carrying it were in the Central time zone (5 PM); I remember Birmingham, Nashville, New Orleans, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Austin, Lubbock, and Wichita, just to name a few, that did; by 1982 only a few smaller Eastern markets, like Savannah, were still carrying it at 6. In the Mountain time zone, ABC News had long since moved to 6 PM (MT) in Denver, and I think Tucson may have been getting it at 5:30.