Clock ident

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The clock used on S4C from 2002 to 2007

A clock ident is a form of television ident that employs a clock displaying the current time with the station logo, typically used before news bulletins and closedown.

1 Appearance
2 Usage
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Appearance

On screen, clock idents typically displayed an analogue clock, although some broadcasters did occasionally experiment with using digital clocks.^[1] In particular, many ITV regions in the UK adopted a digital clock design overlaid on to a coloured card using CSO during the 1970s and 1980s. The backgrounds were generally static, but some clocks (like that used by Associated-Rediffusion) had a spinning Adastral, and the final clocks used by RTÉ One and RTÉ Two from 1995-1998 were the first station clocks possibly ever to have animated full motion video as their background.

The first station clocks were mechanical, but started to convert to an electronically generated format in the 1980s.^[2]

A clock will usually visually match a television channel's normal ident or idents.

[edit] Usage

Traditionally, clock idents are used before news bulletins to ensure that the bulletin begins at the exact time dictated by the schedule.^[3] Clocks could also appear at closedown or startup.

At the time digital television started to become commonplace in the late 1990s and 2000s, clocks started to drop out of mainstream use - delays caused by digital systems caused a delay, therefore meaning that clocks were a few seconds slow. Most television channels no longer sign off at night, and this eliminated another use for clocks. One notable exception is Welsh-language channel S4C, which used a clock until 2007 at closedown and before news bulletins.