Idiosyncrasies of presentation in America

Cable networks do, rarely with broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, The CW..) The most the broadcast networks will do is run ECP with a promo and into the next show, or there might be a little ident/bumper between it.

Have American Networks evolved into current formats because of branding and marketing people. Where they once like the UK presentation style, live continuity etc?

I don't quite follow

The massive influence of the BBC is basically it, really.

The BBC is big enough to dictate how the market operates, and since it has no profit motive nor breaks during programmes, BBC pres is set up in a very dissimilar way to American networks. ITV and others feel the need to at least copy some elements of the BBC's style, or risk being perceived as too alien or too American.

European TV PSB pres is similar to ours, but that’s possibly because the PSBs ( particularly in the Nordic regions) are modelled on the BBC. I’m not sure whether ITV followed the Beeb, or vice versa ? The arrival of ITN had a huge effect on the way the BBC presented their news, moving the newsreaders from out of vision to in vision being the first change !

I believe there's some truth with that: I can use as a case study the italian telly presentation.. things used to be more organised in the-80s-90s

But later, probably the influence of American TV, Mediaset (commercial TV in general) + a naturally careless approach on presentation meant that got things all over the place presentation-wise, even on public TV (RAI), even more than some other European countries: no more pre-programme announcement, no organised menus etc. heck, we even used to have a "normal" primetime of one show at 9:00pm and one at 10:00pm, not one lasting three hours at 9:15/9:20/9:25 (9:00 is too much for them these days)


If you want signs of a somehow "organised" presentation in Italy, you have to head to some Sky channels, particularly the Sky ones: where idents, menu still exist,and they're taken care of, they're updated etc... even the Discovery channels (a US company!) are decent, but definitely not RAI and Mediaset, particularly Mediaset: the main Mediaset channels (Rete 4, Canale 5, Italia 1) which have been using the same graphics for a long time

Surprises me that, other than ABC1, we’ve never really had a channel over here adopt the US style of presentation. There doesn’t seem to be any variation from the standard format here of idents and pres elements, even on channels right at the arse end of the programme guide.

Especially because channels COULD if they wanted to: OFCOM tells you you can put 2 ad breaks in a 30 mins slot

But that's the nice thing about UK TV I see as an Italian: even the lesser known channels (even the kids channels!) care a bit about their presentation
Disney Channel - and I know it may sound stupid to look as an example a kids' channel - during the 2006-2007 used to have no ident before the show (and even then, they had a menu or an announcement on the ECP), but rather than this expanding to other channels - particularly kids' channels as I feared -, they quickly realised this couldn't work on British TV

Though surely kids channels are the best place to experiment with new styles of presentation, since the main audience for them won't have any preconceived notion of how presentation or continuity should flow

What is the reason why most programmes on US TV channels start on the hour or the half hour?

The more variable starting times for programmes on British terrestrial TV channels is the main reason why Video Plus was based on a different algorithm from VCR Plus used in the US.

The danger is these new experiments could become widespread on the normal entertainment channels though

For instance - and I know it's a small thing - I noticed how kids channels in the US, often only show the Eastern/Pacific time,- when a Western timeshifted feed exists; otherwise just Eastern - but adult entertainment channels often don't do that
I suppose soon typical annoucement such as "8/7c" could become extinct then, in favour of just "8"

Even many British TV channels do that, much more than many European countries bar Scandinavia, although in the US it's an obsession (basically they edit TV shows in order to have a "nice" grid: while a channel like GOLD wouldn't do that).. it's a nice thing, when available
I'd say 21 mins long show > 30 mins slot, 41/42 mins > 60 mins slot, should always be the case, on ad-supported channels

The question though is: why many European channels don't at least try to do that.. instead, we get silly times, which often are not even respected: even "precise" Switzerland has Swiss channels such as SRF1 have shows starting 5-mins late etc.
And it's not because they can't: EU laws tell you a maximum of 12-minutes of ads per hour is OK, it's just they don't do proper padding with promos etc.

About that: thanks to the new COSTA legislation, which tells you a kids programme has to be longer than 30 mins in order to have an ad break (instead of being exactly 30 mins), kids channels now look like a mess: not so much the ones who do 31 mins+ 29 mins, but the likes of Disney Channel, which have a "31 minutes" based schedule (14:01, 14:32, 15:03 etc.)