Central time tv 1 hour earlier?

Question

Why do tv shows usually start an hour earlier in the central time zone? I always hear them say on commercials, 8 7 central. Why is that? Do you guys in the middle of the country go to bed earlier than the rest of us or what?

Cowboy, nope not the reason. They say 8, 7 central. Meaning the show is on at 8 in all time zones BUT the central, where it is on at 7. Thanks, but sorry. I have always wondered this and have to know!!

Answer 1

Timezones when it is 8 on the east coast it is 7 in the central timezone. They say that so people in the middle part of the country don't expect to turn on the TV at 8 to watch a program only to see that they actually missed it.

Edit: ok well then this is my theroy, look at the map in the sources. Notice how the Eastern/Central border cuts through alot of populated areas? My guess is that since even national stations are broadcasted through regional providers that they did this because in areas like Nashville,tallahasse,Frankfort A good population of their broadcasting range would lie on the opposite side of the border.

So instead of showing the program twice they had to show it and the eastern program at the same time and just throw in that 7 central thing and I guess that just became a precident for the the whole central timezone rather then just the border area.

Compare the 2 maps and just see how much more populated the East/Cent border is compared to the west/mountain and cent/mont.

Answer 2

There are two meanings to “prime time.” The general one is the time when most viewers are watching, which is about 6-11 p.m. The specific one is when the networks show their top shows, which is 7-10 or 8-11 depending on the time zone. Why not go 8-11 everywhere? Most morning shows start at 9 a.m. everywhere. And the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which covers six times zones, runs prime time 7-11 p.m. in all of them (except tiny Newfoundland, which is a pesky half-hour off and isn’t big enough to get its own special time-delay broadcast). Most network programs are “fed” from the Eastern zone (New York or Washington). In the early days of prime time, shows were live and would be literally repeated for reception in each time zone. Once transmission by wire came in, however, it was cheaper for Central zone stations to pick up shows live from Eastern, thus getting it only an hour earlier (due to the time zone shift). But the Pacific zone’s three-hour time difference was big enough that they had to tape everything and run it later, which they did according to the “normal” Eastern schedule. With a two-hour difference, Mountain also had to tape shows, and chose to show them at the same one-hour delay that Central used. Why would Mountain do that? An NBC spokesperson said that in the less populous, farm-based Central and Mountain zones, “People just turned in earlier.” You got more viewers if you ran shows an hour early. Most network sources say that in modern times, networks would lose neither money nor viewers by choosing a uniform time. But they say the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in the way. In 1971, the FCC enacted the Prime-Time Access Rule, which limited network use of prime time to three hours, making room for more local and syndicated programming. In the rule, the FCC defined prime time as 7-11 Eastern/Pacific and 6-10 Central/Mountain. It informally suggested that all networks use their three hours in the 8-11 Eastern/Pacific and 7-10 Central/Mountain slot, which they all did. NBC and Fox told me that the FCC thus dictated the weird prime-time times. The FCC told me that it just copied what the networks were already doing. I believe the FCC. But the terms of the rule may discourage, or even prevent, the networks from switching everything over to a single time. (This would also explain why both Alaska and Hawaii are also on a 7-10 schedule, since nothing else does.) Cable TV has rather blindly followed the network lead and put its own twist on this mess. Most cablers deliver two satellite feeds—one live straight to Eastern, the other on a three-hour delay to Pacific so it’s 8-11 as well. Central picks up the Eastern feed live and goes 7-10, while Mountain picks p the Pacific feed live and goes 9 p.m.-midnight.

Answer 3

Where Does Central Time Start

Answer 4

With four time zones in the contiguous United States, American broadcast television networks and cable/satellite channels generally broadcast at least two separate feeds to their owned-and-operated stations and affiliates: the "eastern feed" that is aired simultaneously in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, and the "western feed" that is tape-delayed three hours for those in the Pacific Time Zone. This ensures that a program, for example, that airs at 8:00 p.m. on the East Coast is also shown locally at 8:00 p.m. on the Pacific Coast. Networks may also broadcast a third feed specifically for the Mountain Time Zone, where they are usually broadcast on a one-hour delay from the Eastern Time Zone. Otherwise, some stations in the Mountain Time Zone use the western feed.

The Eastern Time Zone is commonly used as a de facto official time for the United States – since it includes the nation's capital city Washington, D.C., the country's largest city, New York City, and about one-half of the country's population.[2] Because of this, television schedules are almost always posted in Eastern Time. Broadcast networks and cable channels also advertise airtimes in Eastern Time, sometimes also including either Central Time or Pacific Time. This has led to conventions like "tonight at 9:00/8:00 Central" (referring to the eastern feed), "tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific" (referring to both the eastern feed and the three-hour delayed western feed), and "tonight at 9:00/8:00 Central and Mountain" (also including the Mountain feed).

A few cable channels may not audibly refer to the Central time airtime of a program, though their promos may also visually include references to its broadcast in both the Eastern and Central time zones. So when a viewer only hears "tonight at 8:00", regardless of whether the promo visually includes it or not, probably the show they are referring to is scheduled to be telecast at 7:00 p.m. in the Central Time Zone.

Some networks also broadcast an East Coast feed which includes the Eastern, Central, and Mountain Time Zones, and a West Coast feed which includes Pacific Time, the Alaska Time Zone, and the Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone.

Answer 5

The reason they are saying that is that is exactly what it is, Central Time is one hour earlier than Eastern time, so that means that the show for Eastern and Central are beeing seen at the same time. The further West you go, the earlier the time, for example, if it is 8:00 pm EST it is 7:00 pm CST, or 5:00 pm PST.

Answer 6

We do not have that problem in good old britain as all regions are the same time No doubt it will be time zone and the oppertunity to view at different times if you miss one

Would be good to know the right answer

Answer 7

Watching tv is simpler but I love reading books more

Answer 8

while reading a written e book, you're stimulating the human brain. You better your reading and literacy skills and you simply along the way, are more literate. Even with today's modern technology, you should be in a position to read still.
While you're watching t.v. can be good fun, it isn't doing anything to your brain.

Answer 9

OK, let me see if I can explain this. Let's say that it is 7pm Central time "RIGHT NOW" in Chicago , then at this "EXACT" second it would be 5pm Pacific time in California, 6pm Mountaintime in Denver and it would be 8pm Eastern time in New York. This is EXACTLY at the same second as if there was no time zones.
If your bedtime was 10 o'clock at night , the people living in New York, Chicago, and Denver will have gone to bed before the person in California.
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