Thursday Night Football on Prime Video

The problem is Amazon Prime is a global web channel so we can't add a default airtime as a result. 

@LadyShelley wrote:
The problem is Amazon Prime is a global web channel so we can't add a default airtime as a result. 

But the games they're airing are aired live; and they begin at 8pm EST.

@RobertRoss wrote:
But the games they're airing are aired live; and they begin at 8pm EST.

In America yes, not in the other trillion regions that Amazon is available in :). 

@TomSouthwell wrote:
In America yes, not in the other trillion regions that Amazon is available in :). 

But does Amazon (and more relevant to us, TVMaze, and then therefore the calendars it informs,) not auto-adjust to whatever time zone the members have indicated they're in? If not, what would be the purpose of specifying a "start time" for any live program?

If I visit Amazon's page for Thursday NIght Football, or even ESPN for that matter, my account, and if not my account, the IP address from which I am connecting to the site, will have those services report the air and event times in what they deem the correct time zone for me; e.g. NFL stating that the Thursday games begin at 8pmEST.

I presumed - possibly in error - that if a start time of 8pmEST were input for any given program, and another member of this site who lives on the west coast of Canada logs in, that program would appear to them as starting at 5pmPST. A visitor from Montreal would see 9pm, etc.

@RobertRoss wrote:
But does Amazon (and more relevant to us, TVMaze, and then therefore the calendars it informs,) not auto-adjust to whatever time zone the members have indicated they're in? If not, what would be the purpose of specifying a "start time" for any live program?

If I visit Amazon's page for Thursday NIght Football, or even ESPN for that matter, my account, and if not my account, the IP address from which I am connecting to the site, will have those services report the air and event times in what they deem the correct time zone for me; e.g. NFL stating that the Thursday games begin at 8pmEST.

I presumed - possibly in error - that if a start time of 8pmEST were input for any given program, and another member of this site who lives on the west coast of Canada logs in, that program would appear to them as starting at 5pmPST. A visitor from Montreal would see 9pm, etc.

@david is the best person to ask here :)

@RobertRoss wrote:
But does Amazon (and more relevant to us, TVMaze, and then therefore the calendars it informs,) not auto-adjust to whatever time zone the members have indicated they're in? If not, what would be the purpose of specifying a "start time" for any live program?

I think the issue is more that since it's a web channel, the software was never set up to do that. Until a year or so ago, streamers weren't doing things like live sports. Everything they aired was either dropped all at once or dropped at midnight and the time didn't really matter. 

For @david something else to consider, D+ will start airing reality shows like Dancing with the Stars this season. They might air that at a prime time, time that setting a specific air time may be necessary. 

@LadyShelley wrote:
I think the issue is more that since it's a web channel, the software was never set up to do that. Until a year or so ago, streamers weren't doing things like live sports. Everything they aired was either dropped all at once or dropped at midnight and the time didn't really matter. 

I wasn't aware that I was implying or inferring that anything happens that is beyond the scope of TVMaze's capabilities. A program takes places at a specific time and I am simply trying to indicate that specific time in the TVMaze listings for that program. All of the other shows I follow appear at the correct time, and have an air time entered at the program's page on this site. Some U.S. network show that airs Thursdays at 8pm EST would have that listed on this site; and presumably would accommodate both for later airings (ie. PST re-broadcasts in the U.S.) and for users' time zones such that is someone in the Central Time Zone had entered the air time as "7pm" I, in the Eastern zone, would still see it as "8pm".

I don't think Amazon Prime's broadcasting of a program that begins at 8pmEST is any different than any of the myriad other programs aired at specific times in a variety of time zones.

This is a million miles from being mission critical to anyone. I am just trying to chip in and make sure that the programs that are listed on this site have accurate information.

@RobertRoss wrote:

I don't think Amazon Prime's broadcasting of a program that begins at 8pmEST is any different than any of the myriad other programs aired at specific times in a variety of time zones.

But it is - the US timezones, Canadian timezones etc are set by the users settings. Amazon is a global network so it isn't set to showing a certain show at a certain time. If like Disney+ do, Amazon drop new episodes of 'Invincible' at midnight on the day of release, in England that release is 8am. We don't track those times because theirs no way of setting a timezone up for a global network as of yet. 

@TomSouthwell wrote:
Amazon is a global network so it isn't set to showing a certain show at a certain time. 

"set"? Set by whom and to set for what? Are we now talking about how TVMaze internally handles different networks' broadcasts?

@RobertRoss wrote:
"set"? Set by whom and to set for what? Are we now talking about how TVMaze internally handles different networks' broadcasts?

Yes. 

Networks and network shows (defined as over-the-air/cable/satellite) follow a schedule when releasing content. NCIS airs once a week, at the same time and on the same day. CBS doesn't air anything else in that block. Just NCIS. The software for the site allows an airtime for network shows because they follow a known schedule that does not involve two, three, four shows to all "air" at the same time. Since the air time is a known quantity, the software allows for an airtime. That airtime can then be, translated for lack of a better term, to whatever time zone the user has set in their personal settings. 

When web shows started, there was no set airtime. Streamers like NetFlix and Amazon, are global and just dumped an entire series all at once. And they would drop more than one series at the same time, that's the important bit. There was no schedule. Two, three, four, shows could all be dropped to binge at midnight on the same day. As a result, the software was set up in such as way that an airtime wasn't recorded since there really wasn't one. Even when streamers started airing a series weekly, they still dropped the episode at midnight for whatever country was the home of the streamer, and they still dropped more than one show at the same time. So, a specific airtime still wasn't needed.

Now Amazon is starting to get into streaming live events, something streamers have never done before. Thursday Night Football does have a set time, that isn't midnight, but because Amazon is a global streamer, the software isn't set up to allow for a fixed air time. At least not yet. If this becomes more of a thing, where streamers are pushing content on an actual schedule (ie like over-the-air networks or cable) and not dropping everything for the day at the same time, we might have to revisit the code. 

@LadyShelley wrote:
If this becomes more of a thing, where streamers are pushing content on an actual schedule (ie like over-the-air networks or cable) and not dropping everything for the day at the same time, we might have to revisit the code. 

Understood; and thank you for your time clarifying that for me!

@RobertRoss wrote:
Understood; and thank you for your time clarifying that for me!

Glad to help. :)