 This is the SF Productions podcast network With her prime time from the pop culture bunker I'm Mindy and I'm Mark you can check out our audio podcast how I got my way three comics on iTunes or on our website SFpodcastnetwork.com We're experiencing the final days of something that for many people Influenced their daily plans the TV schedule with streaming DVRs and YouTube the concept of I have to be home at 8 30 p.m In order to see this show has gone the way of the dodo Future generations will have as little understanding of this as they do the rotary phone or getting lost But it wasn't always this way TV networks first began their initial halting steps of an actual schedule in 1944 yes, Virginia. There was TV before I love Lucy the voice of Firestone Televiews with a 10 to 15 minute show on Monday nights on NBC by 1946 NBC and Dumont see episode 99 to explain what that is Had specific shows listed on specific days and times Otherwise networks would either show test patterns old public domain films or just not be on the air It would take until 1948 for all four networks to get their acting gear and run a schedule of continuous Programming in the evenings with network programming running from 7 to 11 p.m Outside of that time period TV was sporadic at best since the prevailing opinion was that people were too busy during the day to watch And we're sleeping at night it would take a visionary to expand TV And that man was Sylvester Pat Weaver He was a former ad exec in those days radio and TV shows were produced by the ad firms that represented specific companies Who was then hired by NBC to challenge CBS's lead? He began the practice of networks producing their own programming then selling time to advertisers, which is the model you see today He also ventured into the hinterlands of the TV schedule creating two shows still on the air today and tonight He also created a home a daytime show aimed at home makers the plethora of daytime talk shows track their lineage back to home These moves extended the TV schedule throughout the day and evening and we'll get to another expansion in a moment Nighttime TV schedules continued their same plan shows from 7 to 11 p.m. With Dumont giving up the ghost by 1955 1956 brought us a way to find out what was on that being TV guide Local newspapers had published schedules since the beginning but TV guide made it into an industry Publishing local editions nationwide. It quickly became the most read and circulated magazine in the US It would rule the roost for 50 years Expanding as the number of channels grew by 1957 the remaining three networks had given up the 7 to 7 30 p.m. Slot to the local stations with the exception of Sundays while some gave up the 10 30 to 11 p.m. Slot although they soon snapped it back up It would take 15 years for the networks to settle down into an 8 to 11 p.m. Schedule Monday through Saturday with a 30 a 7 30 p.m. Start on Sundays it took an FCC decision to lock in an official prime time schedule giving networks three hours each evening Either from seven to ten or eight to eleven with Sundays getting four hours six to ten or seven to eleven And this is when the classic Thursdays at nine and eight central tag was heard for TV show promos And the rule would remain in place until the mid 90s This also created a glut of shows in the pipeline as networks suddenly had fewer slots to work with There were a flurry of sitcoms the normal use of a 30-minute slot in the 70s That would come and mostly go after the decision Check out the kinescope initiative on SFPBN for more in on sitcoms right around that time Another programming source became popular cable TV now It started in the 1950s as a way to get broadcast TV to Valley areas Someone would literally put an antenna on top of a mountain run cable down and charge people for the use of it By the 70s cable options grew past local network affiliates with super stations like WTBS now TBS and Homebox office now HBO coming online They would be joined by hundreds of channels over the next two decades as channel options grew it became more and more difficult to Channel serve a show might be over by the time you maneuvered through the channel list So electronic program guides were put in place These went from non-interactive scrolling lists to the method to select the channel we have today Once we reached the late 70s a new option came into place the VCR For the first time people could time shift to show taping it when it was on and watching it later And the process was cumbersome using switches and later remotes to plug in day date channel and time But it became very popular especially for those who like to see their stories aka soaps The need for a five-plus hour tape in order to catch a week of soap episodes Was one of the factors in VHS defeating beta because the latter didn't have longer tape until it was too late Various methods were devised to make videotaping easier for the home from videotape Changers to complicated remotes designed solely for time shifting to a bizarre concept called VCR plus Which provided specific codes for specific shows which VCRs could translate into recording settings They even made it into TV guide the time shift ability along with a way to skip commercials and to own theatrical films on tape Resulted in Sony Corporation of America the Universal City Studios Incorporated aka the Betamax case This enshrined the ability to make copies of TV shows for home use as fair use If that had gone the other way the media space would be far different today By 1987 a new fourth network came into play Fox They began programming on Sunday nights and slowly increased their schedule until seven nights a week in 1993 As technology improved a new option came into being the DVR or Tivo to use the brand name You could now record shows directly to a hard drive and easily play them back Timo had an easy to understand interface But cable companies loathe to pay Tivo royalties created their own systems most of which are poor substitutes At one point Tivo had to fight the TV industry when they announced a commercial skip button to move forward 30 seconds easily In the end users were forced to implement it Unofficially as noted the prime time rule was dropped in the mid 90s Just as new networks UPN and the WB now the CW sprang up They chose to program prime time from 8 to 10 p.m. 7 to 9 central with an extra hour on Sundays Fox chose to do the same with the generally low ratings of 10 p.m Shows how long will it be before the big three abandoned that slot as well by the 2000s the ubiquity of the internet brought a streaming TV It's gone from postage stamp low res options to 4k over the past decade or so with YouTube 2005 Amazon video 2006 Netflix 2007 for streaming Hulu 2008 and a galaxy of competitors going from niche to massive efforts such as Disney plus So that brings us to today it's become commonplace the viewers don't know what network of show is on much less when it airs They just see it on demand using a service that obscures the actual source How long will what we're now calling linear TV continue? You can see ads assuming you're not skipping them for magic devices that get free TV programming We used to call these antennas and we still use one younger generations have forgotten this option exists I remember people debating for years about cable. Why should I pay for TV? Network ratings have fallen to the point that they now depend on Live plus seven meaning they include DVR viewings for seven days after the airing in order to have something actually Measurable each of the networks have or will have their own streaming service CBS all-access Disney plus and Hulu for ABC and Fox and Comcast Upcoming service for NBC with those options which may be more profitable It's now a game of chicken who will crack first and curtail or even drop prime time, right? Who knows? And if you decide you don't want to watch TV you can always check out our audio podcast how I got my wife Comics on iTunes or on our website as the podcast network.com The pop culture bunker. I'm a deep and I'm mark. Thanks for watching Thursdays at night