Big 4 Nets Have Aired 90 Fewer Hours of Original Entertainment Episodes So Far This Season

We’re all still struggling to achieve a sense of normalcy amid the coronavirus pandemic, and broadcast television is no exception.

Beginning Sept. 21, 2020 and running through this past Thursday, which was Oct. 29, the Big 4 broadcast networks (CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC) have combined to air 22,430 minutes of original programming, including live news and sports. That probably sounds like a lot (or looks like a large number), but in the comparable period last year, the four main free-over-the-air channels combined for 25,656 minutes of original programming in these first five weeks and change.

We’ll do the math for you. This weird 2020-21 TV season has thus far aired 13% fewer minutes, or 3,226 minutes less, of original programming of any kind across CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC. While the live stuff often doesn’t fit into a neat hourly time slot, that is nearly 54 fewer hours of original programming.

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And we’re just getting our foot in the door here.

Extracting live news and sports, the Big 4 nets have aired 14,541 minutes of original entertainment programming so far, down from 19,938 minutes at the same point last year. That’s 5,397 fewer minutes (or exactly 90 fewer hours) season to season, a decrease of 27%.

Yes, more than one-quarter of last year’s entertainment programming on the Big 4 networks has been sacrificed to the pandemic — or at least delayed due to COVID-19. As a result, CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC have lost a combined (roughly) 30% of primetime viewers to-date.

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Technically, we could even subtract some more from that. Fox is currently airing Season 1 of “L.A.’s Finest.” Only, Season 1 already ran in the U.S. on Spectrum. Since the series is new to broadcast, these episodes are coded as originals, but they’re not actually their first run on television.

There are other examples. CBS has been airing CBS All Access original “Star Trek: Discovery,” and NBC found a solid performer in Canada’s “Transplant.” (OK, so that one never aired stateside before.)

There is both good news and fresh originals on the way. Find a bunch of November premiere dates here.

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