In a recent bout of insomnia, I turned on the TV (I don’t remember what channel it was) and was amazed to see a frozen image from a film on the screen — for about 15 consecutive minutes. I had the impression that either the person responsible for nighttime programming was asleep or what was happening on the screening didn’t really interest him that much. 

I decided to monitor the nighttime programming of local TV stations broadcasting in Yerevan. This is what I saw after midnight on Oct. 19:

00:45 Armenia TV: a program dedicated to satirist Vardan Petrosyan 

00:55 Yerevan TV: feature film

01:00 Shoghakat: Yekeghetsakan Kyanq (“Life in the Church”) program 

01:15 Dar 21: music videos

01:20 Shant TV: Astghik (“Little Star”) children’s song contest 

01:25 AR TV: a program about a race of off-road vehicles

01:30 ArmNews: a repeat of the program Banadzev (“Resolution”) with singer Artavazd Tunjboyajyan

01:35 H1 (Armenia’s Public Broadcaster): repeat of the program Azat Goti (“Free Zone”)

01:35 ATV: feature film

02:00 Yerkir Media: Mamuli Akumb (“Press Club”) broadcast

02:05 Kentron TV: a repeat of Epikentron (“Epicenter”) news program’s evening broadcast

02:15 Armenia TV: The soap opera Dzhvar Aprust (“A Hard Life”)

02:00 Lime TV: Hot Lime

02:30 Yerkir Media: a repeat of the Uerkirn Aysor (“The Country Today”) news program’s evening broadcast

02:35 հ2 (Armenia’s Public Broadcaster’s second channel): a repeat of the Lraber (“The Messenger”) news program’s evening broadcast

02:40 Yerevan: a repeat of the program Kartsiqneri Khachmeruk (“Intersection of Opinions”)

02:50 Yerkir Media: a repeat of the program Araratyan Khohanots (“Ararat Cuisine”)

02:55 Shant TV: a repeat of the program Kankhik Humur (“Net Humor”)

Especially incomprehensible to me in nighttime programming was Shant TV broadcasting a children’s song contest in the middle of the night.

During the two hours I observed the nighttime airwaves, I saw, according to genre:

Quantity	Genre	TV Company
5	interview, debate	Armenia TV, ArmNews, H1, Yerkir Media, Yerevan TV
3	music program	Dar 21, Shant TV, Lime TV
3	news program	Kentron TV, Yerkir Media, h2
2	feature film	Yerevan TV, ATV
1	sports program	AR TV
1	entertainment program	Shant TV
1	study program	Yerkir Media

On Yerkir Media, Vardan Onanyan’s historical TV program was on, while Kentron TV again ran the evening broadcast of its Epikentron news program. After 4 am, h2, Yerevan TV, and Shoghakat completed the broadcast of their programs. The nighttime programming was nearly the same on Oct. 20. 

For example, at 4:10 am, Armenia TV was broadcasting VIA Gra’s concert, there was a soap opera on Shant TV, a program about actor Boris Pepanyan on AR TV, a foreign film on ATV, an Armenian feature film with actor Mikael Poghosyan on H1, Sting’s concert on Lime TV, and a documentary film about the “7 signs signalling the end of the world” on ArmNews. 

I arrived at a few conclusions based on my nighttime research:

• Nighttime programming almost doesn’t differ from daytime programming
• There are no special programs designed for nighttime hours.
• Furthermore, there are no nighttime TV hosts.

And also there’s a lack of a new format. Nighttime TV viewers are more demanding: the constant repetition of daytime programs cannot satisfy TV viewers who stay up at night.

Tigran Hovhannisyan

The views expressed in the column are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Media.am.