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
