The Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) was an American television broadcasting regulation enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from September 13, 1971, to August 30, 1996.
Regardless of the night of the week, the National Association of Broadcasters instituted a decree that the early evening programs not portray violent, sexual, or profane content unsuitable for younger audiences.
The networks aimed to appeal more to younger, urban and suburban viewers with more disposable income and less product brand loyalty than older, non-metropolitan Americans—two things advertisers of the time strongly desired.
[3][4][5] The FCC and supporters of the ruling had hoped, at least publicly, that stations would make every effort to air programs of either a public-affairs or educational orientation, particularly in the 7:30 p.m. time slot on weekdays and Saturdays.
[7][8] Some stations used the timeslot to present a locally produced newsmagazine; KSL-TV in Salt Lake City aired such a program—fittingly titled Prime Time Access (PTA)—until 1988.
Needless to say, the networks were not pleased with the results, either, believing the true motivation behind PTAR was nothing more than a plot by the Nixon Administration and its sympathizers in the FCC (and the U.S. Congress) to deprive them of ad revenues, as a political retaliation against their news divisions' generally adverse coverage of the White House's policies on the Vietnam War and against the social turbulence of the time.
Also, ABC, CBS, and NBC were especially sensitive to declining ad sales due to the Federal Government's prohibition of broadcast cigarette advertising (with loopholes permitting other tobacco products to continue commercials until the 1980s) in January 1971, once a lucrative source of revenue, and the beginning of the recessions that would plague the next dozen years after that.
With a more media-friendly president, Gerald Ford, in office, and probably new appointees on the FCC, the networks thus gained leverage to attempt to restore their lost air time.
While the networks hoped to have PTAR done away with entirely, their affiliates opposed such a move due to profitable local spot ad revenues on Mondays through Saturdays, so they settled for a revision by the FCC instead in 1975.
Its main competition in the early years was NBC's long-running The Wonderful World of Disney, which appealed to family viewers, having moved ahead a half-hour from 7:30 p.m., where it had aired from 1971 to 1975.
ABC has programmed America's Funniest Home Videos in the slot for much of the time since 1993 (except for a period from 1997 to 2002, when ABC broadcast The Wonderful World of Disney in the 7:00 p.m. hour, where NBC had carried it in the late 1970s), while CBS has shown 60 Minutes in the slot consistently since 1975 except on very rare occasions, usually years when CBS has the rights to the Super Bowl or the AFC Championship Game, which kicks off at approximately 6:30 p.m. (5:30 Central); prior to 1978, the contest aired on a Sunday afternoon in January.
Even today, some networks still air aural and/or visual bumpers (i.e. "We'll return after these messages") in the 7/6 p.m. timeslot for younger viewers to understand the difference between a program and a commercial (as if the show aired on Saturday mornings)—such bumpers, one of the original requirements of the timeslot, are not required for news and information programs such as the aforementioned 60 Minutes and Dateline NBC, since those shows are mainly watched by an adult audience.
While CBS shifts its Sunday evening schedule to start after its NFL coverage concludes, Fox has utilized a different approach: the network completely preempted its lineup until the last game it held the right to broadcast in each region had finished until 2004, after which it joined its primetime lineup in progress (preempting portions or even the entirety of programs scheduled to air between 7 and 8 p.m. following the game's designated time slot).
The U.S. Open and Men's PGA Championship, depending on the region, also can be overrun into the timeslot, with Pacific Time Zone tournaments allowing networks to run into well past 8 p.m.
This tradition has continued during the off-season, with the most recent examples of shows burned off on Sundays at the 7 p.m. half-hour being 'Til Death and Sons of Tucson during the spring and summer of 2010, and Mulaney in 2014.
This transition bolstered viewer interest and station revenues, meaning that the networks were extremely reluctant to upset affiliate relations by attempting to scale back PTAR further.
A syndicated version of Merv Griffin's NBC daytime game show Wheel of Fortune—distributed by King World Entertainment—premiered in 1983; initially airing in a handful of smaller markets, its nationwide clearance (especially in the access hour) rapidly increased over the course of its first two seasons.
[15][16][17][18] In 1984, King World launched an Alex Trebek-hosted revival of Griffin's former NBC quiz show Jeopardy!, with a number of stations pairing it in the access hour with Wheel to build upon its ratings strength.
[2] The major networks did not reclaim the traditional access period in early primetime due to pressure from affiliates to retain control of one of the more profitable parts of their programming schedules.
Several of the longest-running first-run syndicated programs—such as Entertainment Tonight, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy!—are still often broadcast in the "prime access hour", and have earned audiences equal to or greater than many network shows.