Editing Broadcast programming (section)

=== Marathons ===
{{Main|Marathon (media)}}
A '''marathon''' is the scheduling of a continuous, long-term block of programming as an event, usually devoted to airings of a single program or film franchise. When conducted using television series, a marathon may either consist of episodes aired in sequential order, or focus on episodes sharing specific themes.

Marathons are often aired on holidays (such as [[Syfy]]'s annual ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'' marathon on [[New Year's Day]], and [[Game Show Network]] airing a [[Charles Nelson Reilly]]-hosted marathon of [[game show]] [[Series finale|series finales]] on [[New Year's Eve]] in 1999),<ref>{{Cite web |title=SYFY Unveils Schedule for The Twilight Zone New Year's Marathon |url=https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/twilight-zone-marathon-new-years-schedule-2020-2021-origina-syfy-rod-serling/ |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=ComicBook.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Moss |first=Linda |date=1999-12-06 |title=Game Show Rides Regis Bandwagon |url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/game-show-rides-regis-bandwagon-147297 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Multichannel News |language=en}}</ref> as counterprogramming for major events airing on other channels (such as the Super Bowl in the U.S.),<ref>{{cite news |last=Hipes |first=Patrick |date=February 1, 2019 |title=How Not To Watch The Super Bowl: Sunday's TV Counterprogramming |work=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |url=https://deadline.com/2019/02/puppy-bowl-skip-super-bowl-wwe-counterprogramming-1202543854/ |access-date=February 3, 2019}}</ref> to lead into new episodes of a series, or to commemorate milestones/events surrounding a specific series or franchise (such as an anniversary, or the network's acquisition of rights to broadcast a certain series or franchise).<ref name="Alexander">{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Bryan |title=Betty White's 'Celebration' features her last video message to fans, in theaters for 100th birthday |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2022/01/15/betty-white-celebration-final-video-100th-birthday-ryan-reynolds/9197135002/ |access-date=2022-12-25 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="VH1Classic">{{cite web |last1=Steinberg |first1=Brian |date=January 14, 2015 |title=VH1 Classic To Run 433-Hour 'Saturday Night Live' Marathon |url=https://variety.com/2015/tv/news/vh1-classic-to-run-433-hour-saturday-night-live-marathon-1201404896/ |access-date=November 19, 2016 |publisher=Variety}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Petski |first=Denise |date=January 14, 2015 |title='Saturday Night Live' Mega-Marathon Set To Air On VH1 |language=en-US |work=Deadline |url=https://deadline.com/2015/01/saturday-night-live-mega-marathon-vh1-snl-rewind-1201349898/ |access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref> Some marathons may focus on the roles of a specific entertainer; the death of [[Betty White]] resulted in several networks scheduling marathons of programming on or around January 17, 2022—which would have been White's 100th birthday—featuring her television appearances, such as Hallmark Channel airing a marathon of ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', and both [[Buzzr]] and Game Show Network airing marathons of her game show appearances.<ref name="Alexander"/>

While longer marathons are typically reserved for major events, the popularization of [[binge-watching]] via streaming services in the 2010s led to many U.S. cable networks adopting marathon-like blocks of programs as their regular schedule.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-10 |title=The Effects of Binge TV and Why Weekly Episodes Shouldn't Go Out of Fashion |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/streaming-tv/weekly-episodes-vs-binge-watching/ |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=pastemagazine.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sabin |first=Sam |date=2018-11-06 |title=Most Young Adults Have an Appetite for Binge-Watching Shows |url=https://morningconsult.com/2018/11/06/most-young-adults-have-an-appetite-for-binge-watching-shows/ |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=Morning Consult |language=en-US}}</ref> To compete with the release practices of streaming services, [[TBS (American TV channel)|TBS]] premiered entire seasons of its [[Police procedural|police]] sitcom ''[[Angie Tribeca]]'' in a marathon format.''<ref name="tvline-renewed-2">{{Cite news |last=Webb |first=Matt |date=2015-11-05 |title=Rashida Jones' 'Angie Tribeca' Gets TBS Premiere Date, Renewed for Season 2 |work=TVLine |url=http://tvline.com/2015/11/05/angie-tribeca-renewed-season-2-tbs-rashida-jones/ |access-date=2016-05-19 |archive-date=2015-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106011338/http://tvline.com/2015/11/05/angie-tribeca-renewed-season-2-tbs-rashida-jones/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Season2">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Katy |date=November 5, 2015 |title=Entire First Season of Angie Tribeca to Debut Via Marathon; Season 2 Ordered |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/11/05/entire-first-season-of-angie-tribeca-to-debut-via-marathon-season-2-ordered |access-date=November 8, 2015 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[J2 Global]]}}</ref>'' Similarly, [[free ad-supported streaming television]] (FAST) services often feature linear channels that are narrowly-focused towards specific programs or franchises.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bridge |first=Gavin |date=2022-07-01 |title=The FAST Approach to Streaming Content: A Special Report |url=https://variety.com/vip-special-reports/the-fast-approach-to-streaming-content-a-special-report-1235302920/ |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref>