Once upon a time, not so long ago, we had three stations, none of which started before 9 a.m. and all of which generally closed down around midnight or soon after, unless something special was going on. And they didn't even broadcast programs full time between those hours, typically having breaks during the mid afternoon.
There are still areas where reception of the analog transmissions of "Five" is very poor unless you want to go the trouble of erecting a high-gain aerial, because it was squeezed into the band-plan in the 1990's and had to operate on greatly reduced power compared to the other four networks from many sites.
Remember that the shut down of analog terrestrial broadcasts has already started, and will be progressing region by region over the next couple of years. The last analog TV transmitters are due to be closed down in 2012.
