Editing Prime time (section)

==North America==
{{See also|Effects of time zones on North American broadcasting}}
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2018}}
[[File:Dayparting in the United States.svg|thumb|right|U.S. TV [[dayparting]]; prime time is in light purple]]
In [[North America]], television networks feed their prime-time programming in two blocks: one for the [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern]] and [[Central Time Zone|Central]] [[time zone]]s, and the other, on a three-hour tape delay, for the [[Pacific Time Zone]], to their local [[network affiliate]]s.  In [[Atlantic Canada]] (including [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]), as well as [[Alaska]] and [[Hawaii]], there is no change in the interpretation or usage of "prime time", as the concept is not attached to time zones in any way.  Affiliates in the [[Mountain Time Zone|Mountain]], [[Alaska Time Zone|Alaskan]], and [[Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone|Hawaiian]] zones are either on their own to delay broadcast by an hour or two, or collectively form a small, regional network feed with others in the same time zone.

Prime time is commonly defined as 8:00–11:00&nbsp;p.m. Eastern/Pacific and 7:00–10:00&nbsp;p.m. Central/Mountain.  On Sundays, the major broadcast television networks traditionally begin their primetime programming at 7:00&nbsp;p.m. (Eastern/Pacific, 6:00&nbsp;p.m. Central/Mountain).  Some networks, such as [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]], [[The CW]], and [[MyNetworkTV]] broadcast only from 8:00–10:00&nbsp;p.m., a time period known as "common prime".  Most networks air primetime programming nightly, but the smaller MyNetworkTV has programmed only on weekday evenings since its 2009 retreat towards a programming service.  The CW returned to Sunday broadcasting in 2019, then added Saturday for the first time in 2021.  In Canada, [[CTV Television Network|CTV]] and [[Global Television Network|Global]] both follow the same model as the larger U.S. networks (although both may occasionally air programming in the 7:00&nbsp;p.m. hour in the event of scheduling conflicts with other U.S. imports), while [[CBC Television]], [[Citytv]], and [[CTV 2]] schedule prime-time programs only within the common prime period (with the 10:00{{nbsp}}p.m. hour dedicated to [[Broadcast syndication|syndicated programming]] on Citytv and CTV 2, and CBC airing its news program ''[[The National (TV program)|The National]]'').  The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has alternatively defined prime time as ranging from [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/crtc-to-relax-canadian-content-rules-on-television/article23420352/ 6 pm to 11 pm] to [https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2019/2019-67.htm 7 pm to 11 pm].

Since the early 2000s, the major networks have come to consider Saturday prime time as a [[graveyard slot]] and have largely abandoned scheduling of new scripted programming on that night.  The major networks still maintain a prime-time programming schedule on Saturdays, with a mix of live sporting events (most commonly [[college football]] in the United States and [[ice hockey]] in Canada), encores of programs aired earlier in the week, films, non-scripted reality programs, [[true crime]] programs produced by their news divisions, and, occasionally, [[burning off]] episodes of low-rated or cancelled series.

Prime time can be extended or truncated if coverage of sporting events run past their allotted end time. Since the "[[Heidi Game]]" incident in 1968, in which [[NBC]] cut away from coverage of a [[New York Jets]]/[[History of the Oakland Raiders|Oakland Raiders]] football game on the east coast in order to show a movie (and, in the process, causing viewers to miss an unexpected comeback by the Raiders to win the game), the present-day [[National Football League]] mandates that all games be broadcast in their entirety in the markets of the teams involved. Due to this rule, game telecasts may sometimes overrun into the 7:00&nbsp;p.m. ET hour. [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] previously scheduled repeats of its animated series in the 7:00 hour, allowing themselves to simply pre-empt the reruns if a game ran long. This was later replaced by a half-hour-long wrap-up show, ''The OT''. In contrast, [[CBS]] does not, as its weekly newsmagazine ''[[60 Minutes]]'' has traditionally aired as close to 7:00&nbsp;p.m. ET as possible. Even if a game runs past that hour, CBS shows ''60 Minutes'' in its entirety after the conclusion of coverage, and the rest of the prime-time schedule on the East Coast is shifted to compensate. For example, if game coverage were to end at 7:30&nbsp;p.m., prime time would end at 11:30&nbsp;p.m.

However, in the rare case where the NFL game runs excessively late (8{{nbsp}}p.m. or later), the series scheduled to air at 10{{nbsp}}p.m. is preempted, with the West Coast and eastern markets airing only an early afternoon game usually receiving a repeat of the 10{{nbsp}}p.m. series instead. In an extreme case, CBS's prime time can be extended past midnight during broadcasts of the [[NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament]]. This does not necessarily apply universally; in 2001, after an [[XFL (2001)|XFL]] game went into double overtime, causing a 45-minute delay of a highly promoted episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', NBC made a decision to cut off all future XFL broadcasts at 11:00&nbsp;p.m. ET. Since the launch of [[NBCSN]], NBC has occasionally invoked this curfew by moving sports overruns to that channel if necessary.

Until the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) regulated time slots prior to prime time with the now-defunct [[Prime Time Access Rule]] in the 1971–1972 season, networks began programming at 7:30&nbsp;p.m. Eastern and Pacific/6:30&nbsp;p.m. Central and Mountain on weeknights.  The change helped instigate what is colloquially known as the "[[rural purge]]"—a long-term trend away from programs appealing to older and rural audiences in favor of programs catering towards younger, "urban" viewers.  As a result, the [[prime access]] hour became a lucrative timeslot for syndicated programming in the years that followed, with [[game show]]s and [[variety show]]s, as well as syndicated reruns, becoming popular.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-14-ca-4986-story.html|title=Syndicated-tv Reviews : Prime-time Lead-ins On Nbc: Joke's On Viewers|last=ROSENBERG|first=HOWARD|date=1987-09-14|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-09-25|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/09/13/comedies-trying-to-get-the-jump-on-game-shows/|title=COMEDIES TRYING TO GET THE JUMP ON GAME SHOWS|last=Daley|first=Steve|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=2018-09-25|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/12/02/tvs-rural-purge/2516ce4b-9140-4f92-b30f-6bb3a9582ca1/|title=TV's 'Rural Purge'|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-09-25|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

The vast majority of prime-time programming in English-speaking North America comes from the United States, with only a limited amount produced in [[Canada]]. The [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] mandates quotas for [[Canadian content]] in prime time; these quotas indicate at least half of Canadian prime-time programs must be Canadian in origin, but the majority of this is served by national and [[local news]] or localized entertainment gossip shows such as [[Global Television Network]]'s ''[[Entertainment Tonight Canada]]'' and [[CTV Television Network]]'s ''[[Etalk|ETalk]]''.

Likewise, the vast majority of Spanish-language programming in North America comes from [[Mexico]]. [[Televisa]], a Mexican network, provides the majority of programming to the dominant U.S.-based Spanish broadcaster, [[Univision]]. Univision does produce a fairly large amount of unscripted Spanish-language programming, the best known having been the long-running variety show ''[[Sábado Gigante]]'', hosted and created by Chilean national [[Don Francisco (television host)|Don Francisco]], until September 2015. Today, Univision is televising [[Liga MX]] soccer matches on Saturdays. Univision's distant second-place competitor, [[Telemundo]], produces a much greater share of in-house content, including a long line of [[telenovela]]s.

In [[Quebec]], the largest Francophone area of North America, French-language programming consists of originally produced programs (most of which are produced in [[Montreal]], with a few produced in [[Quebec City]]) and a few French-language dubs of English language programs. On all of the Quebec networks, entertainment programming is scheduled only between 8 and 10{{nbsp}}p.m., with the 10–11{{nbsp}}p.m. hour given over to a network newscast or a nightly talk show.

===United States===
Prime time is the [[daypart]] (a block of a day's programming schedule) with the most viewers and is generally where television networks and local stations reap much of their advertising revenues.  In recent years, television advertising expenditure in the US has been highest during prime-time drama shows.<ref>[http://www.statista.com/statistics/223207/genre-breakdown-of-primetime-tv-ad-spend-in-the-us/ Genre breakdown of primetime TV advertising expenditure in the United States in 2011]. Nielsen. April 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2013.</ref>

The [[Nielsen ratings]] system is explicitly designed for the optimum measurement of audience viewership by dayparts, with prime time being of most interest.  Television viewership is, in general, highest on weekday evenings, as most Americans are [[working time|at work]] during daytime, asleep during the overnights, and out taking part in social events on weekends; thus, television has its highest audience at times when people are unlikely to be away from home.

Prime time for radio is called [[drive time]] and, in Eastern and Pacific Time, is 6–10{{nbsp}}a.m. and 3–7{{nbsp}}p.m. and, for Mountain and Central Time, is 5–9{{nbsp}}a.m. and 2–6{{nbsp}}p.m. The difference between peak radio listenership and television viewership times is due to the fact that people listen to their radios most often while driving to and from work (hence the name "drive time").

A survey by Nielsen revealed that viewers watched almost two hours' worth of TV during prime time.<ref>[http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/television/how-much-tv-do-people-watch-during-the-day-28359/ How Much TV Do People Watch During the Day?] Marketingcharts.com. April 4, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2013.</ref>

===Mexico===
In Mexico, central time normally starts at 7:30 p.m. and periodically ends at 10:30 p.m.  The main networks, such as Las Estrellas, Azteca Uno, and Imagen Televisión, broadcast telenovelas produced by themselves or productions acquired from other countries such as Turkey and Brazil, among others.