Original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

programming (also called originals or original programs, and subcategorized as "original series", "original movies", "original documentaries" and "original specials") is a term used for in-house

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, film or

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

productions to which the exclusive domestic and, if the originating service operates non-domestic versions of the service outside of their home country, international broadcast rights are held by traditional and

over-the-top An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...

content providers. The term was coined by HBO in 1983 when the premium service began producing its slate of in-house series and film productions. HBO initially branded the original series on the network under "HBOriginal" until 1986, and by 1993, the "originals" term had expanded to encompass most of its original productions. The term eventually expanded into use by various cable-originated television networks (including, among others, Disney Channel,

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

and

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

) to identify their in-house productions. It also advertises them as being distinct from the acquired content offered to fill out the remainder of their programming schedule. Most original made-for-cable or made-for-streaming productions are produced solely in conjunction with independent production companies that also hold day-to-day management responsibilities for the program, although some series (such as '' The Larry Sanders Show'', '' Queer as Folk'', '' The Leftovers'' and ''

Power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

'') share financial interests with major television studios—such as

20th Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Comp ...

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

and

Lionsgate Television Lionsgate Television is the television division of Lionsgate, which is a Canadian–American entertainment company. History The company was established in July 1997 as Lions Gate Television, Inc. with the establishment of Lionsgate Films. It ...

—that may also handle distribution responsibilities for domestic and international

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

on behalf of the originating network. Television networks and digital content providers that produce original programming include

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent ...

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

, Showtime, Amazon Prime, and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. In October 2020,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

became the first U.S. broadcast network to identify all of its entertainment programming under the term, branding them as "CBS Originals"; however, the network uses the "original" term for both series produced by sister production company CBS Studios and series produced by third-party production companies. ( ABC had previously marketed the 2016 miniseries '' Madoff'' and the 2019 made-for-TV movie ''Same Time, Next Christmas'' as "ABC Originals".)

References

{{tv-stub Cable television Streaming television Original programming

See also

References