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314 Points
Please clarify "Broadcast on TV"
If an older TV movie that had broadcast nationally in other countries was shown only by a handful of independent stations in the US and no network transmission, does IMDb consider it as having a US "Broadcast on TV" release?
The title that sparks the question is "Hamlet at Elsinore", which according to Wikipedia was broadcast to NET (future PBS) stations 11/15/1964. Except it wasn't. On that date it was aired only by three independent stations in NYC, D.C., and L.A. No one else aired it in 1964. Chicago 11 aired it nearly a year later. US networks were roundly criticized in the press for passing up the program, which had aired nationally to great fanfare and praise in Canada, the UK, and elsewhere. (Of course, it was nearly 3 hours long - before commercials!)
gromit82
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7.3K Messages
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274.9K Points
10 months ago
Ben: I tried writing a longer post but it got deleted before I finished. So I will just summarize what I meant to say.
When you are submitting a release date for a television program, one of the options will be "Broadcast on TV". But in a prior discussion, the staff explained that this option should be used when the program was broadcast on TV nationwide, not locally or in limited parts of the country. For the November 15, 1964 broadcast date that was only on 3 stations, you should correct the broadcast date to use the release type "Other (not listed above)", and put (limited) in the "Additional information" box.
If Hamlet at Elsinore later had a date where it was broadcast more-or-less nationwide in the U.S., that should be submitted as a separate release date.
Note that I would not recommend submitting any release dates in individual cities in the U.S. later than the three-city (limited) release date of Nov. 15, 1964.
For comparison, there is an annual syndicated special which I normally submit to IMDb, which is broadcast on different dates in different cities, but never on the same day in most of the U.S. My understanding of policy is that I submit each broadcast date for the show with its respective city until the first date that the show is broadcast in three or more cities on the same day, for which I submit the date and an attribute of (limited), and then no broadcast dates after that because the show will already have gotten a "limited" release.
I hope this helps.
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