This article is about the long-running American variety show. For other uses, see SNL Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late-night 90-minute American variety show based in New York City that has been broadcast by NBC on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. In Canada it is simulcast on the Global Television Network. It is broadcast live in the Eastern, Central, and Atlantic time zones, with a two or three hour delay from stations in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. It is one of the longest-running network programs in American television history. Each week, the show's cast is joined by a guest host and musical act. Originally, the show was called NBC's Saturday Night until NBC retitled its show in 1976 (the Saturday Night Live title having been previously attached to a short-lived variety show hosted by Howard Cosell and airing on rival network ABC).