60 Minutes Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Effects from the Prime Time Access Rule and Later Years=== [[File:General Schwartz on 60 Minutes.jpg|thumb|Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. [[Norton A. Schwartz]] in an interview with [[Lara Logan]], April 15, 2009]] By 1971, the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) introduced the [[Prime Time Access Rule]], which freed local network affiliates in the top 50 markets (in practice, the entire network) to take a half-hour of prime time from the networks on Mondays through Saturdays and one full hour on Sundays. Because nearly all affiliates found production costs for the FCC's intended goal of increased public affairs programming very high and the ratings (and by association, advertising revenues) low, making it mostly unprofitable, the FCC created an exception for network-authored news and public affairs shows. After a six-month hiatus in late 1971, CBS found a prime place for ''60 Minutes'' in a portion of that displaced time, 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern (5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. [[Central Time Zone|Central Time]]) on Sundays in January 1972.<ref name="Madsen 15"/> This proved somewhat less than satisfactory, however, because in order to accommodate [[NFL on CBS|CBS]]' telecasts of late afternoon [[National Football League]] (NFL) football games, ''60 Minutes'' went on hiatus during the fall from 1972 to 1975 (and the summer of 1972). This took place because football telecasts were protected contractually from interruptions in the wake of the infamous "[[Heidi Game|Heidi Bowl]]" incident on [[NFL on NBC|NBC]] in November 1968. Despite the irregular scheduling, the program's hard-hitting reports attracted a steadily growing audience, particularly during the waning days of the [[Vietnam War]] and the gripping events of the [[Watergate scandal]]; at that time, few if any other major network news shows did in-depth investigative reporting to the degree carried out by ''60 Minutes.'' Eventually, during the summers of 1973 through 1975, CBS did allow the program back onto the prime time schedule proper, on Fridays in 1973 and Sundays the two years thereafter, as a replacement for programs aired during the regular television season. It was only when the FCC returned an hour to the networks on Sundays (for news or family programming), which had been taken away from them four years earlier, in a 1975 amendment to the Access Rule, that CBS finally found a viable permanent timeslot for ''60 Minutes''. When the family-oriented drama ''[[Three for the Road (TV series)|Three for the Road]]'' ended after a 12-week run in the fall, the news magazine took its place at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time (6:00 p.m. Central) on December 7, 1975, and has been aired at that time since then, making it not only the longest-running prime time program currently in production, but also the television program (excluding daily programs such as evening newscasts or [[breakfast television|morning news-talk]] shows) broadcasting for the longest length of time at a single time period each week in U.S. television history.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}} This move, and the addition of then-[[The White House|White House]] correspondent [[Dan Rather]] to the reporting team, made the program into a strong ratings hit and, eventually, a general cultural phenomenon. This was no less than a stunning reversal of the historically poor ratings performances of documentary programs on network television. By 1976, ''60 Minutes'' became the top-rated program on Sunday nights in the U.S. By 1979, it had achieved the #1 spot among all television programs in the [[Nielsen ratings]], unheard of before for a news broadcast in prime time. This success translated into great profits for CBS; advertising rates increased from $17,000 per 30-second spot in 1975 to $175,000 in 1982.<ref>Madsen, p. 17</ref> The program sometimes does not start until after 7:00 p.m. Eastern, due largely to [[CBS Sports]] live sporting events. At the conclusion of an NFL game, ''60 Minutes'' will air in its entirety and delay all subsequent programs. However, in the Pacific time zone, ''60 Minutes'' is always able to start at its scheduled time as live sports coverage ends earlier in the afternoon. The program's success has also led [[CBS Sports]] to schedule events (such as the final round of the [[Masters Tournament]] and the second round and regional final games of the [[NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship|NCAA men's basketball tournament]]) leading into ''60 Minutes'' and the rest of the network's primetime lineup for the night (as CBS never airs any sports programming on Sundays in primetime except for the AFC Divisional Round, AFC Championship Game, or the Super Bowl). Starting in the 2012β2013 season, in order to accommodate a new NFL scheduling policy that the second game of a doubleheader start at 4:25 p.m., CBS changed the scheduled start time of ''60 Minutes'' to 7:30 p.m. Eastern time (or game conclusion) for Eastern and Central Time Zone stations which are receiving a game in that window. The start time remains at 7:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific (or game conclusion if a late single game is airing in the eastern markets) on stations which are not broadcasting a late game in a given week (or for Western time zones even if a Doubleheader airs) .<ref>{{cite news|title=CBS Responds to NFL Doubleheaders by Pushing Sunday Series Back 30 Minutes|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/good-wife-mentalist-amazing-race-premieres-schedule-nfl-369481|last=O'Connell|first=Michael|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=September 11, 2012}}</ref> In the 2023β2024 season, the show began to have occasional 90 minute episodes.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/for-several-episodes-this-fall-60-minutes-will-become-90-minutes/ | title=For several episodes this fall, '60 Minutes' will become 90 minutes - CBS Texas | website=[[CBS News]] | date=September 16, 2023 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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