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Is This Really What Happens When North American Shows Air On UK TV?
They say you learn something new everyday. Here's a fact I never knew - and it affects one of the hottest shows in the world right now.
Crave's "Heated Rivalry," a drama about two gay hockey players, has debuted on a pay service in the U.K. But viewers complain the show seems to be sped up and can't figure out why.
According to the Independent newspaper, there's a reason for the extra haste and it may well affect all North American shows that air in Britain.
"The likely reason for the speeding up of the show has to do with UK broadcast formats – with the practice historically being commonplace when it comes to imported US television.
Over in the US, TV shows broadcast at a speed of 24 frames per second, and American (and Canadian) TV productions are filmed to this format.
In the UK, however, TV is broadcast at 25 frames per second – a small change, but one that means US shows are often required to air slightly faster."
Who knew?
Heated Rivalry fans notice series has been ‘sped up’ for UK release
- RadioActive
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Re: Is This Really What Happens When North American Shows Air On UK TV?
I just thought of this: does this mean British shows that air here are run at a slightly different speed? Don't think I've ever noticed.
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Re: Is This Really What Happens When North American Shows Air On UK TV?
RadioActive wrote:
I just thought of this: does this mean British shows that air here are run at a slightly different speed? Don't think I've ever noticed.
Good question RA. I am not sure if British shows run at a slightly different speed here as I used to produce promos for shows like Downton Abbey and didn’t notice any speed difference, unless it only occurs during the actual broadcast. Back when shows were on tape, they ran at 30 frames per second here, so the rate has changed somewhat since then!
- Davenet
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Re: Is This Really What Happens When North American Shows Air On UK TV?
Let me just point out that all North American television runs at 29.97 frames per second. The UK is 25 frames per second and, yes, for 24 fps source material (like movies) they will simply speed it up slightly to 25 fps. My guess is that Heated Rivalry was originally shot at 24 fps and offered to the UK in that format.
In North America, any UK show (25 fps) or movie (24 fps) is frame-rate-converted to 29.97 fps. The speed is not changed.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Is This Really What Happens When North American Shows Air On UK TV?
Let me just point out that all North American television runs at 29.97 frames per second. The UK is 25 frames per second and, yes, for 24 fps source material (like movies) they will simply speed it up slightly to 25 fps. My guess is that Heated Rivalry was originally shot at 24 fps and offered to the UK in that format.
In North America, any UK show (25 fps) or movie (24 fps) is frame-rate-converted to 29.97 fps. The speed is not changed.
Out of curiosity, what does "Television" mean in this case? For a show that's mostly watched via streaming are there still different standards?
- paterson1
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Re: Is This Really What Happens When North American Shows Air On UK TV?
What is strange would be that this minor "speeding up" is just getting noticed and talked about now. Sky in the UK has been running programming from the US and Canada for a long, long time.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Is This Really What Happens When North American Shows Air On UK TV?
What is strange would be that this minor "speeding up" is just getting noticed and talked about now. Sky in the UK has been running programming from the US and Canada for a long, long time.
I thought that too, as well as the idea that it'd be really hard to notice unless you'd seen both versions. I'm guessing many people found a way to stream it before Sky started carrying it.
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Re: Is This Really What Happens When North American Shows Air On UK TV?
Sorry, when I said "television" I meant linear broadcast television (OTA, cable channels, etc.). My comments applied to that, and not that new-fangled streaming business the young people are all into! Streaming services can offer streams in any format they wish.
The speed-up technique has been in use for many years. I noticed it when I lived in the UK some 10-15 years ago. And it only applies to source programing offered at 24 fps. In the old days all NA programming was produced at 29.97 which had to be frame-rate-converted to 25 for Europe, so no change in speed.
Last edited by Davenet (Yesterday 10:09 pm)