Omnibus (broadcast)


An omnibus is a compilation of several television or radio episodes into a single instalment. An omnibus is similar to, but distinct from, what is called a marathon in other countries; In an omnibus, individual episodes are edited together into a single programme, whereas in a marathon the episodes are aired separately but in sequence. The term has been most frequently used in the United Kingdom, though it has also been used in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Brookside was the first television soap to have what was called an omnibus edition, in 1991; it continued until the series ended in 2003. EastEnders introduced the equivalent of an omnibus edition starting in the 1980s, but the term "omnibus" was not used until the 1990s.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, many soap operas have been regularly repeated in omnibus format; For example, both EastEnders and Hollyoaks air on weekends in an omnibus edition that compiles episodes previously aired during the week. Serials, such as The Sarah Jane Adventures and Dead Set have been presented as complete storylines in this format.
Omnibus formatting has also been used on home video; For example, the first home video releases of Doctor Who from BBC Studios Distribution re-formatted each serial into a "feature-length adventure".
Programs that are or have been transmitted in omnibus format in Britain include:
Television:
ProgrammeYearsChannel
Brookside1991–2003Channel 4
Coronation Street2006–presentITV2
EastEnders1994–2015
2016-2018		BBC One,
W
Emmerdale2000-present
2004–present		ITV2,
ITV3
Hollyoaks1995–present,
2001–present		Channel 4,
E4
Home and Away1999–2000,
1999-2002,
2001–2005,
2006–present
2015		ITV2,
UK Living,
Channel 5,
5*
Viva
Neighbours1993–2001,
2008–present,
2015		UK Gold,
5*,
Viva

Radio:
Internet:
in the United States also utilized the omnibus format for weekend re-airings of their major soap operas until its December 2013 demise; however the term used in that case is as a marathon as all of the five programmes aired by a soap per week were aired consecutively without editing them together. As all four current American soaps also carry their episodes either via Hulu or through network websites, omnibuses and marathons are no longer maintained.