Live television

Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, in the present, as events happen. It may also refer to streaming television over the Internet when content is continuously played . The Pluto TV app, for example, has two categories: "Live TV" and "On Demand." On its website, Xfinity states "Watch TV series and top rated movies live and on demand with Xfinity Stream."

It is not uncommon for live programming to be recorded as it is shown on television, but to be recorded as it was recorded prior to being aired without being rehearsed or edited. Live television shows include newscasts, morning shows, award shows, sports programs, reality shows, and, occasionally, episodes of scripted series.

Up until the late 1950s, live television was more common than videotape. Several television shows such as soap operas remained live until the 1970s due to the prohibitive cost. Live television programs may be delayed in order to prevent unforeseen issues, allowing censors to edit them. In some time zones, live programming may be broadcast while others are delayed.

Types of programs

With the exception of filmed shows like I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke, live television was heavily used in the early days of television. The first videotape was invented in 1956, but it cost $300 per hour (equivalent to $2,856 in 2020), so its adoption was very slow. The mid-1970s were the last time some genres, such as soap operas, abandoned live broadcasts completely.

Prior to video tape technologies, a live television program was more commonly used in the early years of commercial television to broadcast content created specifically for the medium. Due to widespread use of video tape recorders (VTRs), many entertainment programs were recorded and edited before broadcasting rather than broadcast live.

Morning shows

TV Networks will provide the majority of live morning shows in September 2021, with programs such as Good Morning Britain, BBC Breakfast, This Morning, Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel, etc. broadcast live in the UK; Sunrise live in Australia; Your Morning live in Canada; and Today, Good Morning America, and CBS Mornings in the U.S., which air live only in the Eastern Time Zone. CBS Saturday Morning and Sunday Today with Willie Geist, which air live in Eastern and Central time zones, are the only exceptions. Spanish-language morning shows (such as Despierta America and Un Nuevo Da), unlike their English-speaking counterparts, air live across the mainland U.S. except for Pacific time zone viewers who, with viewers in Hawaii and Alaska, have tape-delayed shows.

There are a few daytime talk shows broadcast live in certain time zones in the U.S. Wendy Williams and Live with Kelly and Ryan are only broadcast in the Eastern time zone, while ABC's The View is broadcast both in the Eastern and Central time zones. The Talk airs live on CBS from Monday through Thursday in the Eastern and Central time zones. A separate program airs on Friday afternoon. These programs are broadcast on tape delay by affiliates in the remaining time zones. Most other daytime talk shows and late night shows are taped before a live studio audience early in the day and aired later.

Entertainment shows

Most entertainment events, such as award shows and beauty pageants, are broadcast live during primetime hours according to the schedule of the East Coast. There have been a number of reality competition franchises (such as American Idol and Dancing With The Stars in the United States) where viewers can vote for their favorite acts featured in a live performance. But as of 2022, American Idol is the only reality competition series to broadcast live in all U.S. territories at the same time.

In countries with multiple time zones, such as Mexico, Canada and the United States, live entertainment programming may be difficult to schedule since it airs live in the eastern most time zones, but may be delayed to air during primetime hours in western markets (although Mexico and Canada have regularly televised major live events simultaneously across their borders since the late 1990s).

In the past, live global sports and breaking international news programming were broadcast live in all time zones around the world. In the late 2000s, several award shows began airing live in all time zones in an attempt to avert "spoilers" via the internet and social media channels. Since the early 1990s, the Academy Awards have continuously broadcast live in Alaska and both U.S. coasts (as well as Hawaii and American Samoa by the late 2010s), and the Golden Globes have joined it since the early 2010s. Since recent years, the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Grammy Awards have been broadcast live in all U.S. territories.

Because of the declining viewership across live event television in the same period, some award shows have switched annually between delayed and live television broadcasts, such as the Billboard Music Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards.

News shows

Local U.S. television stations broadcast their newscasts live since they are an essential source of breaking news and weather forecasts. In the United States, most broadcast television networks air their evening newscasts live in the Eastern and Central time zones. Viewers in the Pacific Time Zone receive a separate "Western Edition." Should a major breaking news event occur in any part of the world, broadcast television networks will broadcast a live "special report" in all time zones. In the event of severe weather warnings or major local breaking news stories, local television stations interrupt their regularly scheduled programming.

Cable news outlets (such as CNN and Fox News Channel) air continuous live programming during the day, and air rebroadcasts of earlier live shows during the late night hours, except in cases where breaking news occurs.[2] The PBS NewsHour airs live on PBS stations in the Eastern Time Zone.[3] Sunday morning news programs in the USA such as Meet The Press on NBC, This Week on ABC, and Fox News Sunday air live in the Eastern Time Zone (including a limited number of small markets in the Central Time Zone), while CBS Sunday Morning and Face The Nation on CBS air live in the Eastern and Central time zones.

When cable news networks broadcast live content (such as CNN and Fox News Channel), the word LIVE is incorporated into their network logos (also called digital on-screen graphics). Occasionally (but not always) sports cable networks will insert the word LIVE in the corner of the screen. Television networks rarely show such graphics during their live programming, except during special breaking news reports and overseas sporting events. (NBC displayed the word LIVE next to their logo during its Olympic coverage, a practice that is also followed by its sister station, NBCSN)[4]

Newscasts on local television stations display time and temperature during their broadcasts, and only display the word LIVE when they air a live report or a live shot. Many networks are now inserting (in addition to the word LIVE) the local time of where the news report is coming from, particularly when the report is broadcast live via satellite from overseas.

Sports and other events

As Since the beginning of the decade, major sporting events like the World Series, Super Bowl, World Cup and Olympic Games have been broadcast live on both coasts of the United States, simultaneously with the global telecasts of these events, according to the official international broadcasters..

As well as the U.S. presidential elections and congressional elections, there are also multi-network coverage of Presidential Inaugurations, the State of the Union Address, Presidential News Conferences, Presidential Addresses to the Nation, and funerals for prominent public and religious figures. Live local election coverage is provided by local television stations as well as coverage of local special events and parades, such as big city marathons, funerals of prominent local public figures, inauguration ceremonies of mayors and governors, installation masses of cardinals or bishops, and pep rallies for professional sports teams. Live broadcasts of events such as the State Opening of Parliament are common in the UK.

Uses of live television

Even in scripted programming, live television is often used to attract viewers in order to take advantage of these characteristics. In contrast, the NBC live comedy/variety program Saturday Night Live has been on the network continuously since 1975 and airs live in the Eastern and Central zones (including the Pacific and Mountain zones beginning 2017 as part of its transition to a live season across the continental U.S. beginning in 2018) during the season, which runs from October through May.

Two separate live broadcasts of ER (for viewers on both coasts of the country) aired on NBC on September 25, 1997, which ranked as the most watched episode of any U.S. medical drama program ever. Live television has also been used by many television news programs, particularly local news programs in North America, as a device to gain audience viewers by making their programs more interesting. Today, a news reporter can report live "on location" from anywhere in the city using technologies such as production trucks and satellite uplinks. Criticism has been leveled against the overuse of this technique (like minor car accidents with no injuries) and the resulting tendency to make stories appear more urgent than they are.

The unedited nature of live television can pose problems for broadcasters because of the potential for mishaps, such as anchors being interrupted or harassed by bystanders shouting profane phrases. In 2015, a female CityNews journalist confronted a group of young men who had used the phrase; one of them later lost his job after he was identified. Channels often broadcast live programs on a slight delay (usually on single-digit seconds only) to give them the ability to censor words and images while keeping the broadcast as "live" as possible.