Clock ident

Clock idents are typically used before news bulletins and closedown, though in the past quite commonly preceded regular programming.

[1] In particular, during the 1970s and 1980s, many ITV regions in the UK adopted digital clock designs, which are overlaid onto a coloured card using CSO.

Clocks can be displayed in silence, but can also be accompanied by music or the voice of a continuity announcer giving programme information.

Most television channels no longer sign off at night, eliminating the need for closedown clocks.

One notable exception is the Welsh-language channel S4C, which used a clock until 2007 at closedown and before news bulletins.

TV2 and its sister channel, SuperTV2, instead broadcast a five-second countdown before their news bulletins and occasionally other programs.

Clock idents in Portugal have mostly been used before newscasts, although they were sometimes used to align programming with the schedule for continuity.

In Hong Kong, clock idents were used in between programmes, especially news bulletins, although they were not used during closedowns or start-ups.

In Southeast Asia, clock idents are broadcast on a few channels in almost all countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam.

The ident accompanied with seven-note tune that resembles the incipit of Mars Pancasila (the anthem of the national emblem of Indonesia).

Since mid-2010s, GMA Network began using clock idents at every hour or at every beginning of its programs which appeared for at least one minute and disappeared afterwards and also, it has a style of red rectangular box and white Seven-segment display numbers as a digital clock which is placed either on lower-left or lower-right portion of their screen and on 2022, they used Arial font numbers for that.

Also, PTV has clock idents during all of its programs since early 2010s located at the lower-left portion of their screen.

Between the 1990s and 2009, Channel 3 aired digital clock video counting up to 8 am and 6 pm for the national anthem.

Channel 7 used clock idents in the 1990s, and again between January and February 2010 before becoming 24 hours broadcasting on 1 March 2010.

On VTV, digital clocks are broadcast for 3 seconds before the main news program.

Clock idents were used in Australia from the 1960s until the late 1980s by ABC-TV, as well as by a number of commercial TV stations including SAS-10 Adelaide.

Certain other channels, like STS, do not broadcast news programs but do show a clock sometimes between programs, at special or scheduled checks or at closedown, though a nightly closedown is rare in Russian channels since most of them are already broadcasting 24 hours a day.

After a tragedy, or on a national remembrance day, those clock idents are shown silent and their color may be changed.