United States (US) In the
United States, timeshift channels typically carry a time delay of three hours (in line with the time difference between the
east and
west coasts of the U.S.); the main channel feed is generally identified as the "East" feed and is programmed for
Eastern Time Zone viewers, while the corresponding timeshift channel is generally identified as the "West" feed and is programmed for viewers in the
Pacific Time Zone. For conventional broadcast networks, a timeshift channel is a network affiliate from a market in another
time zone (such as
New York City-based stations
WCBS-TV,
WNBC,
WABC-TV and
WNYW as
Eastern Time Zone feeds, and
Los Angeles-based stations
KCBS-TV,
KNBC,
KABC-TV and
KTTV as
Pacific Time Zone feeds for
CBS,
NBC,
ABC and
Fox, respectively); for cable-only outlets, a timeshift channel is simply the original
programming feed retransmitted at a later time, as is the case with timeshift channels in other countries. (Many cable systems in the
Mountain states transmit a mix of timeshift channels as the originating network feed, split by the network between the "East" and "West" feed as opposed to offering uniform feeds of each channel that is aligned to the feed intended for distribution in the corresponding locale.) CBS also uses its streaming news service
CBS News as a timeshift channel, carrying select
CBS News programs on a half-hour delay from their original airings. The major U.S. terrestrial
television networks broadcast without delay in the Eastern and
Central time zones (UTC−5 and UTC−6, respectively), but delayed programs by one and three hours respectively for the
Mountain (UTC−7) and Pacific (UTC−8) time zones. The start of U.S. evening
prime time programs is typically announced in the form of "8, 7 Central" (often written as "8/7c") or "8 Eastern and Pacific" (often written as "8 ET/PT"). Many
cable television channels do not timeshift (or offer timeshift feeds to all viewers across the country), though there are several exceptions. As an alternative, many cable channels, including
cable news outlets such as
Fox News Channel,
CNN and
HLN repeat most of their prime time programs on their main channel in
late night time slots, so that they will air during prime time in both the Eastern and Pacific time zones, though it is subject to pre-emption because of later breaking news.
Premium channels such as
HBO,
Showtime and
Starz commonly air three-hour delayed feeds of the main channel and their
multiplex channels, though typically digital cable providers only simultaneously carry the East and West coast feeds of the main channel while the multiplex channels are a singular feed (the "East" feed for the Central and Eastern time zones, and the "West" feed for the Pacific and Mountain zones); this allows subscribers to watch a movie, series or special three hours behind or ahead of its original airing in their area (in the case of
The Movie Channel, many cable systems only carry the respective coastal feed of the main channel and its multiplex channel The Movie Channel Xtra, rather than airing the East and West feeds of the primary channel or both channels). Many
children's television channels, such as
Disney Channel,
Nickelodeon, and
Cartoon Network also have timeshift services; however, most digital cable providers will only provide the East or West coast feed in the basic package and the opposite feed, if available, is often in a higher package tier (satellite subscribers will often receive both the East and West feed as part of their service package). The
Nick Jr. Channel notably only maintained a single Eastern Time feed until 2013, which led to controversy when the channel launched its adult-oriented
NickMom programming block, which had started at 7:00 p.m. in the Pacific Time Zone and earlier in Alaska and Hawaii, at times when preschoolers would still be awake in those regions; Nick Jr. would later launch a West Coast feed due to complaints from some parents about the content featured on the NickMom block. Sporting events, including the
Super Bowl, have been broadcast live in all U.S. time zones simultaneous with the primetime schedule of the Eastern time zone, for decades, resulting in announcements such as "4 Eastern, 1 Pacific" (generally shown as "4 ET/1 PT"). In the event of a sporting event leading into prime time on the East Coast, the following programs are often said to be "coming up next, except on the West Coast," as additional programming is shifted around to fill the time between the end of the event and the start of prime time on the West Coast. Many times, this is the programming that was preempted by the effectively earlier time slot in the western zones. Live nationwide U.S. airings of international sporting events like the
FIFA World Cup on Fox and the
Olympic Games on NBC, beginning in the late 2010s, are simultaneous with the actual live global broadcast regardless of the hosting nation, resulting in adjustments by networks as most of their games may fall outside the primetime slots of any of the U.S. time zones at the time of the event (and, on occasion, televise live during daytime with primetime encores when the hosting nation is located outside the
Americas). Until the mid-2000s, several awards shows were routinely
tape-delayed for viewers on the West Coast while being transmitted live east of the Rockies. However, by the late 2000s, with the rise of social media like
Twitter and
Facebook around discussion of television programming, many of them now choose to air their ceremonies live all across the mainland U.S., especially those held in the Los Angeles area where tape-delayed broadcasts had been conducted by the networks in the past. The transition was ushered in 2009 by NBC with the
Golden Globe Awards, primarily aiming to prevent
spoilers for western viewers previously relying on telecasts delayed until local prime time. In the past, the only way to find out winners in advance was through
radio news and print wire reports summarizing the ceremonies in progress, before the Internet and
social media and their more widely-reaching and immediate reports effectively made tape delay a pointless endeavor. The
Academy Awards regularly air live on ABC across mainland North America for decades before expanding to full live telecasts for all U.S. territories in 2019. Since 2016, CBS mandates all of its affiliates across all U.S. time zones in and out of mainland North America to air the
Grammy Awards live simultaneously with the East Coast primetime airing with corresponding local primetime encores for each U.S. time zone outside the Eastern and Central time zones. The
Primetime Emmy Awards, on rotation among ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, joined the Grammys in airing completely live all across the U.S., including Hawaii, starting with CBS' telecast turn in 2017 to resolve the complaints of tape-delaying live American TV shows outside the mainland continent. In its resumption with physical show staging since the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, the
Tony Awards completed the shift of
major U.S. entertainment awards shows to live coast-to-coast U.S. telecasts with its respective broadcast transition. The
Billboard Music Awards began its live coast-to-coast U.S. telecast with ABC in 2016 and has since juggled between West Coast-delayed and live coast-to-coast U.S. broadcasts in its transfer to NBC beginning in 2018. Meanwhile, the
MTV Video Music Awards have regularly aired live all across U.S. territories simultaneously with
The CW as part of its post-
COVID-19 pandemic adjustments since 2020. In particular, network-timeshifting of live U.S. television broadcasts has since steadily declined amidst the rise of social media and online streaming services, simultaneous with the increasing trend of U.S. entertainment shows towards live coast-to-coast American broadcasting that earned renewed importance for they are "
DVR-proof" in terms of ratings and social purposes. Now more rarely, lesser ceremonies continue to air live in the Eastern and Central time zones while tape-delayed for all other U.S. territories, as their airtime is often purchased as a
brokered programming arrangement, and as disruption for those ceremonies (often on weekdays) is much less tolerated by their airing network's affiliate base west of the Rockies. Other ceremonies that do not air live are taped in advance, including those broadcast on weekend nights in the U.S., to allow
standards and practices to watch the ceremony in advance and determine cuts for profanity or content to insert a
bleep censor or cut-away, and the producers can make cuts for time and superfluous items such as longer walks than expected by an award winner to the stage or a rare botched performance with the replacement of
dress rehearsal footage.
Canada In Canada, digital television services typically offer network stations from at least Toronto and Vancouver as timeshift channels, and may also offer stations from other markets as well. Most English-language programming is transmitted without delay in the
Atlantic time zone (UTC−4) and delayed in most of the rest of the country. This results in the effective existence of, for example, +1, +2, +3, and +4 channels of the broadcast networks for viewers in the Atlantic time zone and −4, −3, −2, and −1 channels for Pacific viewers. French programming is transmitted without delay on
Montreal's
CBFT-DT in the
Eastern zone and delayed only in Western Canada. In
Newfoundland,
CBNT-DT, which has
its own time zone half an hour ahead of Atlantic time, programming airs at the same time as in the Atlantic, with special time announcements (thus, for instance,
The National on
CBC will be said to air at 10:00, 10:30 in Newfoundland). In practice, only the CBC delays its entire prime time schedule for each time zone; the commercial networks typically schedule programs to maximize their ability to claim
simultaneous substitution rights (which allows local broadcast stations to require U.S. broadcast stations' signals on television providers to be overridden with their own, if they are airing the exact same program in simulcast), resulting in programs often being scheduled in pattern with an airing from the Eastern or Pacific zones. In Alberta, programs may sometimes be aired earlier or later than normal than in other parts of the country in order to achieve a simsub with either coast, as stations from Spokane (which is located in Pacific time, one hour behind local Mountain time) are typically carried on cable in the province. An exception are network affiliates in
Saskatchewan; although most of the province (aside from
Lloydminster, which follows Alberta time year-round) observes Central time, it does not observe daylight savings time. While local time in the province matches Mountain time during the
spring and
summer months, local stations continue to schedule their programs in pattern with their sister stations in Manitoba. Several Canadian cable channels have separate feeds for the Eastern and Pacific time zones, such as
YTV,
Teletoon,
Family,
History,
UNIS,
CTV Comedy Channel, and
W Network, though sometimes their
high definition feeds are only available in eastern feeds.
Crave operates its west coast feeds on Mountain time instead of Pacific time, a holdover from the former Alberta-based service
Movie Central.
Latin America In Latin America, Spanish-language pay television programming used to be broadcast without delay in Argentina and Uruguay, and delayed in most countries; this situation was common in networks that broadcast one video feed for distribution to the rest of Latin American countries, as it centred their schedule using the Argentine time zone (HBO, Moviecity). However, this stopped being the case on basic-tier subscription TV with the launch of different regional feeds centred on local time zones, either based on Mexico, Colombia, Peru or Chile. Networks that are known to employ this practice are
Star Channel,
MTV,
ESPN,
Cartoon Network,
Nickelodeon, among others. In cases of live programming, all events are broadcast in all feeds live without delay. Portuguese-language programming in
Brazil is transmitted in broadcast and cable networks without delay throughout the country in all time zones, except for broadcast stations in
Acre, which is the only state 2 hours behind
Brasília time. A 2007 Ministry of Justice ordinance require broadcasters to respect local time zones in their scheduling of age-limited content, which is sustained in a 2014 ordinance. This includes the
Daylight savings time, which is only observed in some states. Fuso networks were created on 2008 that timeshifted programs to different regions. This created difficulties with live programs for viewers and additional expenses for the broadcasters. The difficulties led to time zone reforms that gradually reduced the number and the time gap of time zones in Brazil, sometimes with controversy due to disruptions they could cause to daily schedules. For example, a 2008 bill that would have unified Brazil's time zones was made at request of a television network owner, but it was withdrawn after criticisms citing a lack of public cosultation. The
2010 Acre time zone referendum that brought the state's original time zones were also opposed by broadcasters, taking until 2013 to be approved. The broadcasters have fought in court since 2011 to remove the penalties for not following age restriction schedule. The
Supreme Federal Court ruled in 2016 that the rule was an illegal form of censorship. Therefore, there is no longer a legal obligation for a concrete time-based limit on age-restricted content broadcasting. In 2017, Globo closed its Fuso Network, thus removing delays on its programs, and Amazon Network Acre reduced the delay to 1 hour.
XEW-TV (the flagship of
Canal de las Estrellas) in Mexico has two timeshift feeds: Canal de las Estrellas −1 and Canal de las Estrellas −2, delayed one and two hours respectively from the main Mexico City feed. These timeshift feeds are broadcast on
terrestrial television in the Mountain and Pacific time zones and are available on
pay television in various parts of the country. ==See also==