A
regional variation
generally refers to times when a radio station or television station simultaneously broadcasts different programs,
continuity
or advertisements to different parts of its coverage area. This may be so as to provide programming specific to a particular region, such as
local news
, or may be so as to allow advertisements to be targeted to a particular area.
Some regional variations are the consequence of a
federal
style television network or radio network where a local station is a part of a larger
broadcast network
and broadcasts the network's programs some of the time and its own programming the rest of the time. The latter is therefore sometimes considered a regional variation. Examples of this include the UK's
ITV
network throughout much of its history, and American network
affiliate
stations.
Regional variation is also a common term used in British television listings publications, such as magazines and newspapers, to show the different programs broadcast in different areas of the country.
Technicalities of regional variations
[
edit
]
Traditionally, regional variations depend on a network or service broadcasting over multiple transmitters. Typically a 'network' feed will originate from a central location, such as
BBC Television Centre
, and be fed to all transmitters. Local offices or regional contractors would then be said to opt out of this feed when they switch to feeding the transmitter(s) with locally originated content and to
opt in
when returning to a national feed. Opt-ins and opt-outs were often quite noticeable in earlier days for causing the picture distortion such as jumping and rolling as the feed was switched; such effects are still noticeable today, though less obvious.
Whilst the BBC originated its network feed from the same place (Television Centre) ITV in earlier days would generally originate its feed from the broadcaster which made the programme.
Satellite services such as
Sky Digital
often offer regional variations by transmitting duplicate feeds of the same station for each region traditionally covered by groups of transmitters as an arguably costly way to provide regional variations within an area covered by the same satellite. Both the BBC and ITV do this, as do Channel 4 and Channel Five for advertisements. The digital
set top box
will determine which version of the channel to supply based on a list of
post codes
corresponding to the details on the user's
smart card
.
Opt-out
[
edit
]
Opt-out
is a term used in broadcasting when a nation or region splits from the main national or network output. In the United Kingdom,
BBC One Scotland
,
BBC One Northern Ireland
and
BBC One Wales
often opt out of the main
BBC One
schedule in favor of regionally relevant programming.
In a similar manner, local television newsrooms present regional news following national news bulletins?the practice having been popularised by current affairs programs
Nationwide
and
Sixty Minutes
?after which they would opt into the national program again. Opting out was
[
when?
]
also common throughout telethons, such as
Children in Need
, where regions separate to transmit local coverage.
Technical description
[
edit
]
An opt-out is the process of a regional entity inserting its output into a tributary of an otherwise complete national broadcast distribution feed, creating a local variation in output.
Being a non-commercial broadcaster, the BBC has no need to play out local commercial spots, thus a regional node will typically only output program material during the local news. Rather than each region having to control or monitor output that is being relayed from a central source, the region will step back from the network, allowing the central source to directly feed its transmitters. The central source is a national feed, which is complete in itself including all continuity, timing, announcement, and program elements. The region interposes to broadcast its element locally, in place of a program in the national feed, by bringing itself into the network (cold-opt) in preparation for the start of the regional element (warm-opt).
[1]
Within
BBC English Regions
, the opt-out usually takes place within equipment located within the region's own central technical area. This is not always the case though; for instance the output from BBC Hull, which feeds the
Belmont transmitter
, is actually switched at BBC Leeds, and the Channel Islands opt-out occurs at Plymouth on the UK mainland, although the programme content comes from both Plymouth and Jersey. Considerable variation can exist between the signal paths for digital (DTT and DSat) and analogue transmissions, leading to great complexity in the opt-out logic.
Commercial broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 (with S4C) and Channel 5 distribute their programmes to regions complete with local advertising and regional programme variations. Regional programmes, although they may be produced in a particular region, are sent to a centralised play-out facility as contributions for insertion into the regional broadcast feed. BBC programmes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are broadcast from their own play-out facilities in Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast, although receiving live and recorded programmes from London they continuously monitor their own output. Thus they do not actually "opt out".
By country
[
edit
]
Canada
[
edit
]
Commercial television in Canada generally used a model similar to the U.S., with networks composed of first-party
owned and operated
(O&O) stations, and third-party
affiliates
. However, from the 1990s through the 2000s, including
CTV Television
and its gradual takeover by
Baton Broadcasting
, and
Canwest
's acquisition of
Western International Communications
to expand the
Global Television Network
and build a secondary
television system
, Canada's major commercial networks were largely consolidated under their respective
conglomerate
owners; CTV, Global,
Citytv
,
TVA
, and nearly all of their respective stations are owned by
Bell Media
,
Corus Entertainment
,
Rogers Media
, and
Quebecor
respectively.
The major English-language networks, including advertising-funded public network
CBC Television
, have largely used similar schedules, and consistent branding and on-air continuity, with little variation besides local newscasts and public affairs programs (for example, some CTV stations, especially in
Western Canada
, substitute the network's national morning show
Your Morning
for the local format
CTV Morning Live
), and
time zone variations
to allow for
simultaneous substitution
of programming carried by U.S. broadcast stations available on subscription television in the market. There are relatively few third-party affiliate stations of Canada's commercial networks; they typically follow the schedule of an O&O in a nearby major market, but with opt-outs for local newscasts and other local programming, and may also
simulcast
that station's newscasts in timeslots where they do not air their own (essentially acting as a third-party
semi-satellite
).
Corus Entertainment's private CTV affiliates substituted
CTV News
programs with
Global News
programs, and
CHEX-TV-2
additionally branded as "Global Durham" despite otherwise being a CTV affiliate.
CHEX-DT
/Peterborough is within the range of CTV's Toronto station
CFTO-DT
, and both are carried on cable locally; the stations ultimately became Global stations after the affiliation expired.
[2]
These stations were previously private CBC affiliates; when
Hockey Night in Canada
aired games regionally, CHEX aired an alternate game over CBC's Toronto station
CBLT
to provide an additional option for viewers where both stations were readily available.
CJON-DT
has more significant variations due to having sublicensed different types of programming from Global, CTV, and
Yes TV
.
France
[
edit
]
Regional elements are inserted into the French public broadcaster
France 3
(France Regions 3, or FR3 for short) by opting out from a national service broadcast from Paris.
Italy
[
edit
]
The Italian public television channel
Rai 3
provides regional news programming, and programmes that are regionally relevant.
Norway
[
edit
]
NRK1 features regional opt-outs for news programmes under the brand
Distriktsnyheter
. They air on weekdays at 19.30 and 22.55 local time. All Distriktsnyheter editions from across the country are replayed nationwide on NRK2 the following day.
Philippines
[
edit
]
Regional variation in the Philippines is more of an exception than a rule as most of a network's stations across the country simulcast the entire programming lineup seen on that network's flagship station (usually based in Metro Manila). This practice effective renders most regional stations as relay stations of their parent network's flagship station.
However, some national networks like GMA have regional variations in selected parts of the country. They feature regional news programmes (each network decides how many different regional variations it wishes to have and which provinces constitute which viewing region). Sometimes, whilst network programming is ongoing, stations may insert a ticker tape of advertisements from local/regional companies.
Prior to
ABS-CBN's free-to-air stations' shut down due to the non-renewal of that network's broadcasting franchise
, its regional stations used to feature regional programmes beyond news. However, most of them had been scaled back dramatically or cancelled altogether due to cost-cutting measures and preparations for the network's impending digital switchover.
[3]
When ABS-CBN offered regional free-to-air TV, it featured regional variations of TV Patrol, which were standalone news programmes that aired late in the afternoon immediately before the
main national edition
.
From 2011 to 2016, TV5 used to feature regional variations in its Cebu station DYET-TV with a local news programme entitled
Aksyon Bisaya
. Since then, DYET-TV has reverted to a relay station of DWET-TV.
Sweden
[
edit
]
Although Sweden's public television channels - SVT1 and SVT2 - have regional variations, the actual amount of airtime allocated for regional opt-outs is very small and is only limited to news updates. During weekday mornings from 06.00 to 09.00 local time, these regional news updates are embedded into SVT's flagship morning news programme
Morgonstudion
. A longer regional news bulletin (approximately 13 minutes long) is shown at 18.30 on SVT1. A shorter five-minute update follows at 19.55 after
Rapport
SVT1. A final news update is shown at 21.45 after the main
Aktuellt
newscast on SVT2. SVT does not have opt-out programming on Saturdays.
United Kingdom
[
edit
]
The
BBC
has traditionally offered regional variations across many of its services. The
Home Service
and its successor
Radio 4
provided regional variations until the early 1980s when
Local Radio
took over these responsibilities.
BBC One
and the
BBC Television Service
have provided variations in the
English regions
throughout most of their history, and continues to do so today (mainly news and
current affairs
programming). In
Scotland
,
Wales
and
Northern Ireland
, BBC One has to a large degree been operated as a separate television channel, rather than a variant on BBC One as broadcast in England.
BBC Two
has in the past broadcast variations within the English regions, though now only has variations for
Wales
and
Northern Ireland
.
BBC Two Scotland
was discontinued in 2019 and was succeeded in purpose by the new
BBC Scotland
channel?which carries a nightly lineup of programming of relevance to Scotland. The channel is still effectively a regional variation of BBC Two (albeit operating in parallel with the English regions' version?which replaced BBC Two Scotland on
Freeview
?rather than as a substitute of it), as it simulcasts BBC Two outside of its main broadcast hours.
BBC Choice
also briefly had regional variations for these areas.
ITV
was originally established as a network of some 14 separate companies, each designated a region of coverage (see
History of ITV
). Each company provided a mixture of local programming for its own coverage area, as well as airing nationwide networked programmes (usually produced by one of the contractors). ITV has traditionally included more regional variations than the BBC, though since
consolidation
and majority ownership by
ITV plc
regional variations on the network are far fewer which in England consists only of regional news and a monthly political discussion programme, and often are no more than the minimum requirements as set by
Ofcom
.
Channel 4
and
Channel 5
provide no regional variations for programming or continuity, but do sell localized advertising. A notable exception was
S4C
, a channel in
Wales
which broadcast in place of Channel 4, and primarily broadcast
Welsh-language
programming of interest to the local audience, as well as English-language programming acquired from Channel 4 (but not always in pattern). Although S4C was a
de facto
regional variation of Channel 4, it was a separate channel in its own right. During the transition to
digital television
, Channel 4 became available over-the-air in Wales on
Freeview
alongside S4C. As a result, S4C would broadcast an alternate schedule on Freeview consisting solely of Welsh-language programmes; after the analogue shutdown, this format became permanent.
Sky News
and
Sky1
also provide a variant of their stations for the Republic of Ireland, although specific Sky News coverage for the Republic of Ireland is extremely limited, due in part to
the channel with Irish content
closing on 3 November 2006, and Sky1's variant is purely an advertising opt-out.
Variations in image and continuity
[
edit
]
Until 2002, ITV's continuity was largely separate in each region of the country, even when announcing broadcasts that were the same throughout the country. The logo of the regional contractor would typically be displayed instead of, or far more prominently than, any 'ITV' logo, before programmes and during trailers. Separate announcers would also be used.
With the consolidation of many ITV companies throughout the 1990s, continuity was often shared between regions as a cost-cutting measure, with the
Granada plc
companies sharing a continuity announcer (but with different logos) from the late 1990s until all ITV Plc regions shared the same continuity from 2002 onwards.
UTV
and
STV
still continue with separate continuity most of the time, with Channel Television occasionally showing its own pre-recorded continuity in place of the network
ITV
branded material.
The BBC also provided regional continuity during the 1970s, often also for nationally networked programming, but in England this ended in 1980. Regional continuity by the BBC in
Northern Ireland
,
Scotland
and
Wales
for
BBC One
and
BBC Two
is broadcast between 6 am and 2 am. Outside these times the channels use the main BBC One and BBC Two continuity. In
England
, BBC One continuity is simply referred to as BBC One on air at all times except preceding local programming where all regions except
BBC London
use pre-recorded announcements.
BBC London
uses the main BBC announcers for its local programmes. BBC Two is a single channel in England, and since 2019 in Scotland, uses national continuity at all times due to the
BBC Scotland TV channel
being launched.
BBC Three
,
BBC Four
,
CBBC
,
CBeebies
,
BBC News
and
BBC Parliament
have no regional variations and therefore no regional continuity.
United States
[
edit
]
U.S. broadcast television is heavily regionalised due to the business model of its major networks, which enter into agreements with stations in each
media market
to carry their national programming, similarly to a
franchise
. As the
FCC
enforces a limit on the market share of broadcasters, commercial networks only have
owned and operated stations
(O&Os) in major or otherwise strategic markets, and rely on third-party
affiliates
to reach the remainder of the country.
PBS
?the United States'
public television
network?refers to affiliates as
member stations
instead, and does not limit them to one per market. PBS does not have owned-or-operated stations due to its structure, but certain major-market members have been considered
de facto
flagships of the network due to their prominent contributions to the PBS national schedule, such as
WGBH-TV
in Boston,
WNET
in New York City, and
WETA-TV
in Washington, DC.
Outside of network programming (which usually consists of two or three hours of
prime time
programmes per-night at a minimum, and may also include national news, sports and
daytime programmes
), the scheduling of each station's programming varies, and usually consists of local newscasts, programmes acquired from the
syndication
market, and
brokered programming
(including
infomercials
, more often in off-peak hours). Similarities may still exist in the scheduling of syndicated programmes between markets, based on factors such as "recommended" timeslots suggested by a programme's distributor, and broadcasters acquiring a particular programme for all of their stations in a group deal. Due to differing market dynamics, Spanish-language networks such as
Telemundo
and
Univision
, as well as
specialty networks
designed to be carried on
digital subchannels
, have a centralised network schedule, which stations may opt out from for local news or regulatory obligations not fulfilled by national programming (such as
children's educational programming
).
Affiliates may, from time to time, opt out of network programs to air
special
programming of local interest (such as coverage of sports or local celebrations); affiliation contracts typically contain restrictions on how often this can be done, and may require the displaced programming to be pre-empted to either a
sister station
,
digital subchannel
, or different timeslot (such as during the late-night hours or on a different night) as compensation. In the past,
Westinghouse Broadcasting
was known for pre-empting network programming on its stations for its own in-house programming; when reaching a major affiliation deal with
CBS
in 1994 (as part of a
larger re-alignment of broadcast television
triggered by
Fox's
acquisition of
New World Communications
), the company agreed to cease this practice and carry all CBS network programming in-pattern with no preemptions (Westinghouse would later acquire CBS outright).
[4]
[5]
In certain highly publicised cases, affiliates have opted out of network programmes (either individual episodes, or entire series) based on objections to their content by station management,
[6]
[7]
such as due to the owner's
religious values
,
[8]
[9]
[10]
and political reasons.
[11]
[12]
A more straightforward equivalent to a regional variation in North American broadcasting is a
semi-satellite
?a co-owned rebroadcaster of a television station that is used to extend its range into a different portion of a market (typically if the main signal is not strong enough to reach it), or a different one entirely, but has more variation in programming than a straight rebroadcaster. Semi-satellites typically share the majority of their programming with a parent station (which may vary to account for syndication rights), but carry a different on-air brand, and local advertising specific to the region. Some semi-satellites have dedicated
news bureaus
, and may opt out from the parent's station's newscasts to carry either local news segments, or dedicated local newscasts in selected time slots.
- WDAZ-TV
in
Grand Forks, North Dakota
?a sister to
WDAY-TV
in
Fargo
. Until December 2018, it aired Grand Forks-specific evening and late-night newscasts, while otherwise simulcasting regional newscasts produced from Fargo by WDAY.
[13]
[14]
[15]
- WSAZ-TV
in
Huntington, West Virginia
?which previously operated a retransmitter, W16CE, to improve its broadcast coverage in the state capital of
Charleston, West Virginia
. During this time, the stations' newscasts were divided into regional and local segments; the first half was simulcast across the stations and presented by anchors in both Huntington and Charleston via
split screen
. The stations then broke away for segments with stories specific to their respective city.
[16]
- In some regions, a larger-scale group of co-owned stations may be linked together to form a state network?such as the
Montana Television Network
(a group of CBS affiliates across Montana),
NBC North Dakota
,
Forum Communications
' ABC affiliates
KBMY
in
Bismarck
and
KMCY
in
Minot
(which are largely fed from WDAY), as well as chains of non-commercial stations (typically PBS stations).
- In some markets, there may be multiple PBS member stations, either operating as a
duopoly
partner of another station (such as WGBH's
WGBX
), or being operated by another entity. In these cases, the members cooperate with PBS on alternate schedules so that the secondary stations carry different amounts of national programming.
Regional sports networks
that cover large regions may similarly be carved into regional variants to account for differing broadcast rights to teams between markets. Examples include
Fox Sports San Diego
?spun from
Fox Sports West
in 2012 after it acquired rights to the
San Diego Padres
of
Major League Baseball
,
[17]
and
MSG Western New York
?a
Buffalo, New York
-centric feed of the state-wide
MSG Network
that is co-owned by local team owner
Pegula Sports and Entertainment
.
[18]
Regional variations in listings
[
edit
]
Magazines and national newspapers print different editions of their TV listings for different areas ? some just for the four British nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while others produce separate editions for the regions within England also. For example, the "
Radio Times
" produces six different editions in total (three of them in the English regions), while its oldest rival "
TV Times
" now produces only four; newspaper supplements are usually printed in just one edition for the whole of the UK.
A regional variations column shows programmes in areas which differ from those in the main listings columns. Generally, only programming that differs from the main schedule is listed rather than listing the entire schedule of each regional area verbatim, much of which would be identical. It is these programmes that make up regional variations. Sometimes all UK regional variations are listed, generally when only one copy of a publication is made for every area, but often only adjoining regions are listed as variations, as is the case in the "Radio Times".
In English regional and UK-wide editions, the main BBC One or ITV column shows programmes in the London region, with other regions (and nations) in the regional variations column. S4C is also often listed here. In Welsh and Scottish editions, adjoining English regions are usually listed. In Northern Ireland, some services from the Republic of Ireland are often listed as regional variations, although they are not.
See also
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The terms "cold-opt" and "warm-opt" are not the generally used BBC terms which are "hard-opt" and "soft-opt" ? care needs to be taken with these terms, as the normal IT conventions of hard and soft are reversed within colloquial BBC lexicon.
- ^
Kovach, Joelle (14 August 2018).
"CHEX-TV newscasts rebranding as CHEX News on Global Peterborough"
.
The Peterborough Examiner
. Retrieved
15 August
2018
.
- ^
ralphierce (25 June 2018).
"ABS-CBN Regional Cancels Agri Tayo Dito, MagTV Na"
.
From the Tube
. Retrieved
16 March
2019
.
- ^
Zier, Julie A. (18 July 1994).
"CBS, Group W form historic alliance"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting and Cable
. Retrieved
13 February
2013
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
Kandell, Johnathan (16 November 2012).
"Obituary: Laurence A. Tisch, Investor Known for Saving CBS Inc. From Takeover, Dies at 80"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
12 July
2012
.
- ^
de Moraes, Lisa (1 April 2009).
"Some Fox Stations Won't Air 'Osbournes: Reloaded'
"
.
The Washington Post
.
ISSN
0190-8286
. Retrieved
24 June
2022
.
- ^
"Channel 6 bumps Osbournes to 1 a.m., schedules drug special instead"
.
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
. Retrieved
24 June
2022
.
- ^
"KSL PULLS 'PICKET FENCES,' CALLS THE SHOW 'OFFENSIVE'
"
.
Deseret News
. 25 January 1993
. Retrieved
12 July
2021
.
- ^
Scott D. Pierce (26 January 1993).
"AS CBS PROGRAMS BECOME MORE RISQUE, WILL KSL-CH. 5 REMAIN A NETWORK AFFILIATE?"
.
Deseret News
. Retrieved
12 July
2021
.
- ^
Scott D. Pierce (6 March 1993).
"NBC HAS BIG PLANS FOR THE 'CHEERS' FINALE"
.
Deseret News
. Retrieved
12 July
2021
.
- ^
"Sinclair known for conservative political tilt"
.
Seattle Times
. Retrieved
12 April
2013
.
- ^
"Names of U.S. war dead read on 'Nightline'
"
.
NBC News
. Associated Press. 29 April 2004
. Retrieved
12 April
2013
.
- ^
"WDAY takes over 5 p.m. news in Grand Forks"
.
Grand Forks Herald
. 15 July 2014
. Retrieved
16 July
2014
.
- ^
"WDAY Launching Statewide Morning Newscast"
.
TVSpy.com
. Retrieved
16 July
2014
.
- ^
"WDAZ to merge broadcasts with WDAY"
.
Grand Forks Herald
. 30 November 2018
. Retrieved
22 January
2019
.
- ^
"The Charleston Split"
. WSAZ-TV. Archived from
the original
on 22 September 2013
. Retrieved
27 July
2013
.
- ^
Jay Posner (16 February 2012).
"Fox Sports San Diego to launch in March"
.
U-T San Diego
. MLIM Holdings
. Retrieved
20 February
2012
.
- ^
Pergament, Alan (21 June 2016).
"Wide-ranging deal will keep Sabres ? and other Pegula Sports & Entertainment content ? on MSG"
.
The Buffalo News
. Retrieved
22 June
2016
.