Upfront
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In the North American television industry, an upfront is a meeting of television network executives with the press and, more importantly, with major advertisers. It is so called because it signals the start of an important advertising sales period, allowing marketers to buy commercial airtime "up front," or several months before the season begins.
In the United States, the major broadcast networks' upfronts occur in New York City during the third week of May, the last full week of that month's sweeps period. The networks announce their fall primetime schedules, including tentative launch dates (i.e. fall or midseason) for new programming, which may be "picked up" the week before. The programming announcements themselves are usually augmented with clips from the new series, extravagant musical numbers, comedic scenes, and appearances by network stars, and take place at grand venues such as Radio City Music Hall or Carnegie Hall. Most cable networks present earlier in the spring since they usually program for the summer months; press attention to these announcements is usually much lighter.
Upfronts in Canada are similar but occur in the first week of June, after networks have had a chance to buy Canadian rights to new American series. Both broadcast and non-broadcast channels make presentations, with a single event per ownership group.
[edit] Popular culture
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- The 2005 HBO show The Comeback, set in Los Angeles and starring Lisa Kudrow, features an episode at the upfronts in New York which features the fictional show "Room and Board".
- The film The Nines features a section during which the main character travels to New York to find out his pilot has not been picked up during the upfronts.
