Late night television

Late night television in television broadcast programming is dayparting. It follows prime time and precedes the overnight television programming graveyard slot. The slot generally runs from about 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. local time, with variations according to the time zone.

In the United Kingdom, the late night spot is not seen as a priority; ITV and Channel 4 program repeats in the time slot, and the BBC's channels primarily air movies or replay documentaries. Similarly, Australian television primarily airs lower-priority imported series or overflows of sports programming in the late night time slot.

In the United States and Canada, the term "late night" is synonymous with the late-night talk show, a type of comedic talk and variety show. Local news usually precedes these talk shows. On cable television, programming strategies in this time slot include timeshifts of prime time programs and, in the case of children's television channels, signing-off and allowing more adult-oriented fare for the overnight hours under another brand.

See also

• Late-night talk show
• Late night television in the United States
• List of late-night American network TV programs

Preceded by Prime time

Television dayparts 11:00 PM – 2:00 AM

Succeeded by Overnight graveyard slot