Late night television
Late night television in television broadcast programming is dayparting. It follows prime time and precedes the overnight television programming graveyard slot. The slot generally runs from about 11:00 PM. to 2:00 AM local time, with variations according to the time zone.
In the United States and Canada, however, the term "late night" is synonymous with the late-night talk show, a type of comedic talk and variety show. Thus, the late night programming block is considered more important in North America. On most major-network stations, a late local newscast airs at the beginning of the block. (This is nearly universal in Canada, as late local news is an easy way to fulfill Canadian content requirements.)
In the United Kingdom, the late night spot is from 11:00 PM to 12:30 AM and not seen as a priority; ITV and Channel 4 program repeats in the time slot, and the BBC's channels primarily show BBC World News, air movies or replay documentaries. Similarly, Australian television primarily airs American late shows, lower-priority imported series or overflows of sports programming in the late night time slot.