Sign-off
Sign-off (or closedown) is the term used to describe the close of operations for a television station during the overnight hours. Usually, this entails some sort of announcement informing the viewer of this, the playing of the national anthem, the displaying of a test pattern and/or the cutting of the carrier signal (as in the transmitter being turned off and the television viewer seeing static). It is the opposite to a sign-on.
The practice varies from country to country, and from station to station. Often, the sign-off happens between midnight and 1:30 a.m.
These days, sign-offs are rare in developed countries, as many now feature 24-hour networks that air content at all hours of the day and night. However, they still occur at some television stations (mostly low power and UHF stations) in the United States during the weekend or routine transmitter maintenance which requires a sign-off (for HDTV as of late, for instance), and more often in Canada.
Some stations that sign off over-the-air continue to feed local cable companies programming via a fiber optic direct line to the cable company during the time of sign-off; usually this consists of either the station's regular schedule, or an unadulterated network feed of the network's overnight programming without local advertising, such as the case of WKTV.
A few stations that still sign off each night include KAPP, KVEW, KLEW, KSNW-TV, WKTV, WWNY, WWTI, WTOL-TV, WUPW, KX Television (all 4 stations), KLKN, WHBF, KCAU, WOI-TV, KEYC, KEVN, KNBN, KGIN-TV, KHAS, KNOP, WOAY, KVRR (and its satellites), KVLY-TV, KXJB, ABC West (all stations), KSL-TV, KCRG-TV, WJFW-TV, WMBD-TV, WFRV-TV, WMSN-TV, WBKP-TV, WLRN-TV WDAM-TV,KQDS-TV, KUTV, KCBS-TV, KCAL-TV, KCOY, KHSL-TV, KRCR-TV, KNVN and a few others.
North America
In the United States and Canada, stations generally list the following details about a station:
- Technical information, such as the callsign, transmitter power, translators used, transmitter locations and STL links.
- Ownership of the station.
- Contact information – such as street and mailing addresses, telephone number and Web site address.
- List of related organizations.
- A commitment to quality (or perhaps, a slogan).
- The time when the station is scheduled to sign-on the following day, before a "good night"-type message.
- The send off (which usually includes a montage of video clips played over the national anthem), followed sometimes by a special signal, usually a series of DTMF tones, to shut off any remote transmitters, before switching to a test pattern (or static for stations that cut off the signal).
At some stations, a weather forecast and/or a pre-taped inspirational message (also known as a "sermonette") precedes the sign-off sequence.
In the past, many television stations also precede the sign-off or sermonette with a newscast. Until the early-1980s, it generally consisted of an announcer reading the news headlines, plus sports scores and a weather forecast, over a slide identifying it as a newscast; some stations also presented a brief, on-camera newscast, either pre-recorded with the 10PM or 11PM news team, or live with another anchor. Starting in the 1980s, many stations replaced this brief newscast with a taped replay of the 10PM or 11PM newscast.
According to FCC regulations, however, stations are only required to merely identify themselves before leaving the air. Many stations did most or all of the above as a common courtesy.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, typically information about the programmes for the next day was given out, a weather forecast, maybe a news update, and finally a look at the station clock. On BBC One, this led straight into God Save the Queen, played out over the BBC One ident. On ITV regions, most of them played the National Anthem over scenes of the Royal Family, although Wales and West of England region HTV played both the Welsh and British national anthems (with scenes of the flag changing to indicate the end of one and the start of the other) and the London & North-West regions (Thames Television & Granada Television respectively) chose to play popular or instrumental music over their clock instead of a national anthem.
The ITV regions gradually switched to 24-hour television between 1986 and 1988, though they still filled some overnight slots with ITV Nightscreen. Channel 4 followed suit from 6 January 1997, while BBC One's last closedown took place on 8 November 1997 (BBC News 24 has filled the early hours since then). Therefore, BBC Two is the last British terrestrial channel to still sign-off at night (the Welsh channel S4C still does). Only during the Christmas period does BBC Two sign-off for the whole night; for the rest of the year, BBC Learning Zone or simulcasts of News 24 fill up most of the night, with Pages from Ceefax only putting in brief appearances. Both BBC One and Two still go off-air once a year for engineering tests.
S4C, a Welsh-language channel, is the only UK terrestrial channel which continues to close down regularly (though generally only for around 90 minutes between approximately 4:30 and 6.00 in the early morning). For some 10 minutes before closedown and 10 minutes before start-up, a series of still "slides" are presented with traditional music. The slides include TV listings and information, competitions, etc. This service has no official name but is commonly known as S4C Closedown Screen.
Australia
On Sydney's Seven Network affiliate, ATN-7, a sign-off in the 1960s would include a music video sendoff followed by a short cartoon of a mother Kangaroo putting her Joey to bed, played over an abridged version of "Advance Australia Fair". The bed was made from parts of the ATN-7 logo. The sign-off is viewable on YouTube at [[1]].
The same affiliate's sign-off in the 1980s featured a cartoon music video sendoff featuring cartoon nudity, the kangaroo clip played over a brief programming announcement, followed by a music video of a band playing "Advance Australia Fair". This sign-off is viewable at [[2]].
New Zealand
In New Zealand, from 1981, Television New Zealand's Television One played a cartoon known as the Goodnight Kiwi, showing a kiwi closing up shop for the night, putting the milk bottle out, riding an elevator to the top of the transmitter, and going to bed in a satellite dish. An alternate version shown on the second channel, TV2 (formerly South Pacific Television) showed the kiwi shutting the camera. It was popular with children, particularly Television One's animation.
The Philippines
In the Philippines, some cable stations don't operate 24 hours a day, mostly are owned by ABS-CBN such as Cinema One and Lifestyle Network, and is replaced with an advertisement and the time when the network will go back on air.