History Main / Watershed

The concept was largely popularized by the U.K., which uses the specific term to regulate TV content. (Interestingly, British radio doesn't have a watershed, just a list of prohibited bad words - and even then this only applies if it is likely that children will be listening, stations have gotten away with featuring the explicit versions of songs both overnight and during the day if they can prove they have a very low child audience) In the U.S., the related concept of UsefulNotes/SafeHarbor refers to a policy of the Federal Communications Commission; it's the time period in which the FCC won't go after you for airing "adult" programming (as long as it's not [[UsefulNotes/TheFirstAmendment legally obscene]]).

* The British watershed is not meant to be one absolute dividing line between family friendly and adult, in fact it has four lines; or four stages if you will. 7pm is where ruder language is allowed to be aired (no swearing, mind you), 8pm is where shows are allowed to get more naughty with mild curses and the like. 9pm is where shows start to get more mature (which gives the more sensitive viewers time to clear out), and in theory the "all bets are off" watershed is at 10pm (pretty much anything goes), but in practice it can start at 9:30, depending on the show/ channel. Similarly, films [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications rated 15]] will start airing earlier than films rated 18. Tamer shows and films might start airing at 8:30 on the reasoning that most of the film would be after the watershed. Creator/{{ITV}} in particular liked to needle the MoralGuardians by starting their dramas at 8:30 and avoiding violence, swearing, and nudity for the first half-hour -- after which all bets were off.

* Creator/{{Sky}}'s Cinema channels gets around the watershed restrictions by demanding viewers enter a (customisable) PIN code before viewing a movie with a [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications 12 rating or up.]]

The watershed varies from country to country. It's typically around 9:00 pm (as in the U.K., Canada and Australia), but it can be as late as 10 pm (as in Germany, Ireland or the United States) or it can be early as 8:30pm (as in New Zealand). Japan has laxer standards in general, but its concept of OtakuOClock starts as late as 11 pm or midnight. In many regions, though, the watershed is in the middle of UsefulNotes/PrimeTime viewing; everything before the watershed is "family programming", whereas the shows afterwards are the more "adult" hit shows. This means that just because a show airs after the watershed doesn't mean that a lot of people won't be watching it.

* The Australian watershed can vary, but the absolute limit is 10 pm. After that, networks can show movies and shows completely uncensored, even if they would otherwise get an MA or R rating. Advertising will also get HotterAndSexier as it gets closer to midnight

* The Latin American watershed is typically 10 pm; after that, the networks like to start airing [[SoapOpera telenovelas]] that are ''considerably'' HotterAndSexier (and often DarkerAndEdgier).

* ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'' ran into some weird watershed-related censorship on British TV. It aired on Creator/ChannelFour, which wanted to re-air the episodes the next morning for people who missed them, and as such decided to use pre-watershed censorship standards on a post-watershed show. In particular, Channel Four refused to air two Season Six episodes, "Marie's Statue" (suggestive artwork) and "No Roll!" (Ray and Debra's sex life).

* Japan brings us OtakuOClock, a time period starting at around 11 pm and extending into the early morning in which the ''really'' risqué shows can be aired. These include anime series based on [[HGame H-Games]] ([[BleachedUnderpants albeit cleaned up for TV]]) and live-action dramas with more extreme content. Examples include a live action adaptation of the adult manga/anime ''Hen'' (known as ''Strange Love'' in the US), which had a scene of the two girls skinny dipping and making out in the school pool; and ''Series/ToumeiShoujoEa'', revolving around a young woman who spends the entire series as an InvisibleStreaker. Especially graphic violence can also be shown after this point, so post-watershed is prime time for horror anime and Japanese horror films to be shown. Japan's watershed rules on violence are quite strict; this is one of the reasons why ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' often had to colour spurting blood white (but pre-existing bloodstains could stay red) in order to be able to air during the daytime.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' airs before the watershed, but pushes the envelope to see what it can get away with in that timeslot. It airs on Saturday evening in a primetime slot, and it's gotten away with an infamously high body count, graphic violence, male-on-male and female-on-female kissing, bondage scenes, [[NightmareFuel/DoctorWho Davros' shirtless scene]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking characters dying with their eyes open]].

A similar, although far looser and less formalised, expectation applies to radio. The Creator/{{BBC}} ran into trouble with the recognised comedy show slots on [=BBC=] Radio Four, which traditionally air comedy shows between twelve-thirty and one, and later in the day between six-thirty and seven. For a long time it never occurred to the [=BBC=] that its usually sedate and self-regulated radio broadcasting ''needed'' the equivalent of a watershed. The content of these shows became an issue from TheEighties onwards, when some listeners complained about the language getting earthier and the actual content of the shows beginning to push boundaries. Radio Four then instituted a late-night Saturday comedy slot for the more ''problematical'' shows and guidelines were issued as to how many times the word "shit" could be spoken at six-thirty in the evening. One promising new show, ''Radio/TheMaryWhitehouseExperience'', was sent straight to after-watershed broadcast on Radio One for this reason. Similarly, a rule emerged on Radio One that chart singles containing swear words or general bad language should be broadcast bleeped during the day, but could be played in the un-bleeped form later in the evening.

* Creator/CartoonNetwork has Creator/AdultSwim, which originally began as an adult animation programming block that started after {{watershed}} and only aired twice a week, but later expanded into a daily overnight block. In 2014, the block's success led to it being treated as a channel in its own right and taking over its sister channel's primetime hours. A decade later, [adult swim] would go on to inhabit the evening fringe (6pm to 8pm ET) as well.

* Creator/CartoonNetwork: For ratings purposes, Creator/AdultSwim is its own channel. From conception, the idea was to show more adult-oriented programming. This extended to Creator/{{Toonami}}, a programming block that was brought back thanks to Adult Swim. The watershed begins when these two programming blocks begin, which (depending on time of the year) can be as early as 8 p.m. ET for Adult Swim and 10:30 p.m. ET for Toonami.