I have lived in France for 24 years, and TV shows were (in the 1990s and 2000s - not sure these days) routinely late or early by ~5 minutes or more with respect

I have lived in France for 24 years, and TV shows were (in the 1990s and 2000s - not sure these days) routinely late or early by ~5 minutes or more with respect to their planned time. I totally understand why the operator needs to watch live TV to know when the show ends, given that the window of power surge is only 5 min.