Just a question here on broadcasting in general. I hear that some TV (and radio) presenters say they are approaching a 'hard break'. This is especially prevalent in the US. Does anyone fancy what a 'hard break' might mean?
I believe a hard break is one that occurs regardless of what's going on at the time, so whatever happens you'll get interrupted. I recall reading on here London Live (and maybe the others) work(ed?) like this, which was interesting when they were taking live coverage of something and they had to keep breaking out of it.
I suppose it could be argued the Emergency Alert Broadcast test alerts they do in the US is technically a hard break of some sort, not quite the same thing as interrupting for adverts but its still a hard break as such.
Just a guess. Is the presenter referring to a scripted time when there must be a break in the programme? ie not movable. Perhaps because it will affect other broadcasters taking the programme. Perhaps it might be important for stations with fully automated transmission systems that can’t be adjusted or delayed.
A ‘soft’ break therefore one which can be allowed to move around a bit?
As others have said, some breaks in programming are "hard" and the TX suite will cut away at the exact moment (either automatically or via the TX operator cutting to the next source). Some are "soft", and the TX suite will cut away when the director tells them to do so.
Hard breaks are often used in a live news environment:
1. when the next programme is a pre-recorded programme at a fixed length - so a news programme from 21:00 to 21:30 might have a hard off-air time so that TX can run the pre-recorded programme which follows in its entirety before the 22:00 flagship broadcast.
2. in an advertising-supported channel, the programme often has a hard off-air at xx:57 (for example) as that final break needs to be hit at a certain time in order to come back to the channel for the TOTH. Whilst some breaks can be shortened by dropping (internal) promos, the TOTH break often has to be left as-is in order to fulfil contractual obligations - hence why often if there is some impending breaking news, the entire break is dropped to avoid having to crash out.
3. if the programme is being carried internationally, the international TX suite might run from pre-supplied timings even if the local TX suite is run manually, so you have to hit those pre-agreed times to avoid falling off-air in other markets.
In some sports programming, you will have hard breaks to comply with rules around betting advertisements, so that there are no compliance problems.
I can't say I've come across this terminology, and I've worked in playout, so I'm guessing it's a US thing?
I second the thought that it probably means an ad break which is programmed in on a fixed time, which means the presenter/programme needs to finish on time otherwise they'll be cut off.
This is fairly common in the US as TV and radio programmes are often networked to many affiliates across the country with gaps for local adverts. These affiliates are all owned by different companies with different automation and technical setups, so the only easy way to co-ordinate the playout of local breaks is for the times to be fixed ahead of time so the affiliates can programme it in to their automation.
Here it's fairly common on the news channels as they like to hit the top of the hour on time. Anyone who watches Sky News will know they often have to quickly cut off guests and wrap up at 57 mins past the hour otherwise the ad break will cut them off (which it often does).
2. in an advertising-supported channel, the programme often has a hard off-air at xx:57 (for example) as that final break needs to be hit at a certain time in order to come back to the channel for the TOTH. Whilst some breaks can be shortened by dropping (internal) promos, the TOTH break often has to be left as-is in order to fulfil contractual obligations - hence why often if there is some impending breaking news, the entire break is dropped to avoid having to crash out.
It may also be the case that moving the ad break into the next clock hour would mess up the ad minutage - in the UK, there are strict limits in hour many minutes of commercials you can have per hour, and broadcasters often max them out in prime time. Say your 6 o'clock hour was already at its limit, and the last break of your 5 o'clock hour was threatening to run late - you'd either have to drop a break, or go with the simpler option of insisting that the programme took its break on time.
It may also be the case that moving the ad break into the next clock hour would mess up the ad minutage - in the UK, there are strict limits in hour many minutes of commercials you can have per hour, and broadcasters often max them out in prime time. Say your 6 o'clock hour was already at its limit, and the last break of your 5 o'clock hour was threatening to run late - you'd either have to drop a break, or go with the simpler option of insisting that the programme took its break on time.
When they used to do Fletch and Sav on BT Sport, Darren Fletcher would sometimes have to cut the guests off at around five to the hour to go to adverts and say "It's the only break we have to get to on time", hence suggesting they needed to do it before the hour to avoid it spilling into the next one and messing up the allowed number of ad minutes per hour.
2. in an advertising-supported channel, the programme often has a hard off-air at xx:57 (for example) as that final break needs to be hit at a certain time in order to come back to the channel for the TOTH. Whilst some breaks can be shortened by dropping (internal) promos, the TOTH break often has to be left as-is in order to fulfil contractual obligations - hence why often if there is some impending breaking news, the entire break is dropped to avoid having to crash out.
It may also be the case that moving the ad break into the next clock hour would mess up the ad minutage - in the UK, there are strict limits in hour many minutes of commercials you can have per hour, and broadcasters often max them out in prime time. Say your 6 o'clock hour was already at its limit, and the last break of your 5 o'clock hour was threatening to run late - you'd either have to drop a break, or go with the simpler option of insisting that the programme took its break on time.
Yes, that's correct as well. Can be particularly problematic with late-running sport fixtures...
Interesting article Ne1L C. Lest I be answering my own question, here's my best guess about its rationale and please feel free to correct me if I didn't get something here:
The hard break in the US might stem from the unique relationship between local stations and national networks. Unlike everywhere else, US networks don't have centralised control over a station's operations, not even among the stations they own. On BBC One and ITV1 for instance, the regional programming is very limited whereas in the US, the networks and local stations are responsible for roughly half of the schedule. And I think the hard break might be a way for networks to cede some control to local stations to allow them to insert local content (ads, local/syndicated show promos, etc) for a minute or two.
My feeling is the soft break is a break at the discretion of the show's producers. The ads and programme promos seen there appear to be technically segments that are queued up in the show's galleries (not the master control).
This is probably why it may be best to watch US election night from cable news networks than broadcast networks.
Interesting article Ne1L C. Lest I be answering my own question, here's my best guess about its rationale and please feel free to correct me if I didn't get something here:
The hard break in the US might stem from the unique relationship between local stations and national networks. Unlike everywhere else, US networks don't have centralised control over a station's operations, not even among the stations they own. On BBC One and ITV1 for instance, the regional programming is very limited whereas in the US, the networks and local stations are responsible for roughly half of the schedule. And I think the hard break might be a way for networks to cede some control to local stations to allow them to insert local content (ads, local/syndicated show promos, etc) for a minute or two.
My feeling is the soft break is a break at the discretion of the show's producers. The ads and programme promos seen there appear to be technically segments that are queued up in the show's galleries (not the master control).
This is probably why it may be best to watch US election night from cable news networks than broadcast networks.
Hope I got it right.
To be honest with you Headliner 101 i had no idea what a "hard break" was. I had to google it to find out.
I would guess its some kind of nationally mandated commercial break. As we know the commercial networks are very different between the UK and US. Local commercial news here have no ad breaks which makes me wonder if the playout for the whole ITV network is based in London.
Local commercial news here have no ad breaks which makes me wonder if the playout for the whole ITV network is based in London.
Sort of ...itv is played out by Red Bee at Chiswick in London and Leeds in all its regional variations and co timed ad breaks . So the local news from say Norwich goes to say London via play out and off to code and mux.
So no opting ..the schedule switches Norwich to air at the exact frame
BBC One goes from Red Bee Broadcast centre to the region say Norwich where they can replace the feed with their own output and then the signal goes to code and mux.... this means that they can do the seamless opts in Breakfast and the news .... when Norwich director wants to ...the main news has two points at which they can opt back on network elegantly ...
So I wold say that itv works "hard" while the BBC regions works "soft "
BBC nations work somewhere in the middle as they playout themselves from Cardiff Belfast and Glasgow but the news studio will do a seamless opt but the schedule does the switch "after the main news" to the local programme .