Cue-Dot

An example of the IBA cue dot (enlarged 4x)

A cue-dot is a visual artifact often used on live television presentations, to signify that the current stage of programming is coming to an end, most often for a commercial break.

Types of cue-dot

There are two types of cue-dot in use today. In both cases, the cue dots are used to signify another control room that a transition of some sort will be occuring on the transmission shortly.

The most common type is the IBA style, used around the world, which consists of a small square in the top right hand side of the screen, with black and white moving (rotating?) stripes.

The other is a proprietary system used principally by the BBC (whom do not air commercials). This version is a static square in the top left of the transmission, which has a white - black - white pattern.

Origins

Cue-dots used to refer to a tiny hole punched into the upper right hand corner of a few frames of 16mm motion picture film, rather than a graphic. The idea was to make an unobtrusive flash in the corner of the screen for a fraction of a second - about five seconds before the end of a scene, and again with one second left.

Some stations used a hand punch, like a bus driver used to use on transfers. This was seldom very accurate in getting the corner of the frame and not all stations who took turns showing the movie used the same five second / one second pattern. Viewers were often treated to a minor blizzard just before most station breaks in any show that had been around a while.

In cinema, this was to warn the master control room technician to prepare to start up another film - perhaps a commercial - and to stop the projector that had been showing the program or feature movie.

More recently, the cue-dot was used extensively on the ITV and Channel 4 networks in the UK for any presentation when a commercial break was approaching. This was for the benefit of the regional playout centres who would need to play in local commercials for their region. Automation and playout servers lead to its use being slowly phased out and is now only used for some live presentations, especially those with regional opt-outs.

The BBC's principle use of cue dots was as a means of the presentation department cueing the next programme, either from a studio or from an Outside Broadcast.

Improvements in talkback and Presfax means that cue dots are rarely used for cueing studios on the BBC. The prevalence of digital television and the accompanying delays means that the use of cue dots to communicate with Outside Broadcasts is obsolete.

They do have some other uses - presentation may be asked to "flash your dots" by an OB so they can confirm that their off-air check feed is the correct one, particularly where they are working on a regional basis. Dots are also used during coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championships to warn other broadcasters that the BBC feed would be cutting to an interview intended for the UK audience only so they should be ready to go to something else.

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