Lengths for U.S. broadcast (?)

novoluc

novoluc

Active member
Greetings,
Was looking at PBS required lengths for programs and was wondering if it's a standard and if not what are the commonly required/accepted lengths in North America (U.S. and Canada)?
For most European channels it's 26:00 and 52:00. Are the 28 and 58 and change of PBS because the absence of ads?
Thanks.

L.

"Standard lengths for fully packaging PBS children’s programs are
as follows:
Program length of 30 minutes = 28:46.00
Program length of 60 minutes = 58:46.00
Standard lengths for all other fully packaged PBS programs are as
follows:
Program length of 30 minutes = 26:46.00
Program length of 60 minutes = 56:46.00
Program length of 90 minutes = 1:26:46.00
Program length of 120 minutes = 1:56:46.00
Programs must time exactly to the frame or PBS will edit them to
time at the producers’ cost."
 
Those lengths are standards only for whoever wrote them. Every US channel & network has it's own standards.
 
Yeah each network (and even each show) can be slightly different. PBS run times are usually a little longer due to absence of ads. I'd ballpark and say most hour long TV shows are probably 43-45min of content.
 
adkimery said:
Yeah each network (and even each show) can be slightly different. PBS run times are usually a little longer due to absence of ads. I'd ballpark and say most hour long TV shows are probably 43-45min of content.
Click to expand...

Seems that I should have searched online about all that before jumping on the keyboard...
Just found another post from Arnie back in 2012 on another board:
"Typical run time for a US network show will be somewhere between 22-24 minutes for a half hour show and 42-48 minutes for an hour show. Actual run time will vary by network, and many will expect your show to be cut into a specific number of acts, with your narrative arc timed to those breaks."

So now I know...

L.
 
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