POWER STUDIO

Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time changes need special attention because one broadcast day either loses an hour or repeats an hour.

Start Of Daylight Saving Time

At the start of Daylight Saving Time, the clock skips forward. In the European schedule this normally means the clock jumps from 02:00 to 03:00 on the last Sunday in March, creating a 23-hour day.

Prepare a special Day Format for that Sunday:

  1. Copy the normal Sunday Day Format.
  2. Remove the Clock Format that starts at 02:00.
  3. Keep the 00:00, 01:00, 03:00, 04:00 and later hours.
  4. Generate playlists for that day before automatic playlist generation does it.
  5. Review the transition around the missing hour.

During the transition, Power Studio may load the 03:00 playlist before the clock visibly reaches 03:00. That is expected behavior for this special day.

The support article Start of Daylight Saving Time in Power Studio shows the dedicated Day Format approach.

End Of Daylight Saving Time

At the end of Daylight Saving Time, one hour repeats. In the European schedule this normally means the clock moves from 03:00 back to 02:00 on the last Sunday in October, creating a 25-hour day.

Prepare a special format for the repeated period:

  1. Create a dedicated Clock Format with a duration of 180 minutes.
  2. Include the normal 02:00 hour, the repeated 02:00 hour and the 03:00 hour in that format.
  3. Add news, commercial blocks and other fixed elements for the whole repeated period.
  4. Copy the normal Sunday Day Format.
  5. Replace the 02:00 to 04:00 period with the dedicated long Clock Format.
  6. Generate playlists for that day before automatic playlist generation does it.

The Day Format may have fewer visible lines than a normal day because the long Clock Format covers multiple real hours.

The support article End of Daylight Saving Time in Power Studio shows the long Clock Format approach.

Operational Advice

Prepare DST days in advance and check them manually. Do not rely on ordinary weekly formats for the clock-change night.

Leave Windows time handling and external time synchronization in their normal configuration unless the station has a specific technical reason to do otherwise. Power Studio expects the operating system clock to make the daylight saving time change.