Mountain Time

We watch TV in the evenings, and the shows we watch are not on at the right time. Santa Fe is on Mountain time, which is two hours behind Eastern, so it seemed logical that shows would air two hours earlier -- so 60 Minutes, which comes on at 7 east coast, would come on here at 5 p.m. on Sundays. Not so.

Sometimes shows are one hour behind the east coast airtime (60 Minutes comes on at 6 p.m. here, and Masterpiece Theater airs at 8 here, an hour behind its 9 p.m. showing in the east.)

But other shows are two hours behind. New episodes of my Scottish soap opera, Outlander, debut at 6 p.m. here, while it's showing at 8 Eastern.

The NBC national news comes on every evening at 5 p.m., an hour and a half different than the 6:30 east coast air time.

So shows appear anywhere from an hour, to an hour and a half, to two hours behind their east coast broadcast.

You often hear a TV promo say a show will be on "8/7 Central" but no mention of show times in western states. You have to figure out the schedule here and it's not consistent.

That's because there are two broadcast feeds in the US -- Eastern and Western. The east coast gets the Eastern feed, and if you live in the Central time zone, you always get shows from the Eastern feed, delayed one hour. If you live in the Pacific time zone, you get the Western feed, 3 hours behind. Stations in the Pacific time zone then hold their shows until prime time so they aren't showing adult dramas at 6 p.m.


In the Mountain time zone, we get both broadcast feeds. Stations can pick either one -- they can choose the Eastern broadcast delayed one hour, or the Pacific broadcast advanced one hour. That accounts for some shows coming on one hour behind the East coast (the Eastern feed delayed an hour), or some shows airing two hours behind (one hour advance from the Western feed.)

I don't know about the hour and a half delay for the national news. I can't bear to watch it anyhow.

Greg has lived in Denver on Mountain time for years, but never mentioned the scheduling thing because he doesn't watch TV. For years, in fact, he didn't own a TV. But we watch a lot, and it was tricky to figure out how to find our shows at the right time.

Okay, I have to go now -- I need to finish my wine and take an early supper so I can catch my Sunday night Outlander viewing at 6 p.m.  It makes for a very early evening. But sooo worth it.


Och, Sassenach.

Comments