<P> In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The Academy Film Archive preserved The Sound of Music in 2003 . </P> <P> The first American television transmission of The Sound of Music was on February 29, 1976 on ABC, which paid $15 million for a one - time only broadcast that became one of the top - rated films ever shown on television to that point . The movie was not shown again until NBC acquired the broadcast rights and telecast the film on February 11, 1979 . NBC continued to air the film annually for twenty years . During most of its run on NBC, the film was heavily edited to fit a three - hour time slot--approximately 140 minutes without commercials . The thirty minutes edited out of the original film included portions of the "Morning Hymn and Alleluia" sung by the nuns, part of the dialogue between Mother Abbess and Maria in the abbey, part of Liesl and Rolfe's dialogue preceding "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", Liesl's verse of "Edelweiss" sung with the Captain, the Captain and Baroness waltzing at the party, and minor dialogue cuts within existing scenes . </P> <P> The film aired in its uncut form (minus the entr'acte) on April 9, 1995, on NBC . Julie Andrews hosted the four - hour telecast which presented the musical numbers in a letterbox format . As the film's home video availability cut into its television ratings, NBC let their contract lapse in 2001 . That year, the film was broadcast one time on the Fox network, in its heavily edited 140 - minute version . Since 2002, the film has aired on ABC, generally during Christmas week, and has been broadcast on its sister cable network, Freeform, periodically around Easter and other holidays . Most of its more recent runs have been the full version in a four - hour time slot, complete with the entr'acte . ABC first broadcast a high definition version on December 28, 2008 . On December 22, 2013, the annual broadcast had its highest ratings since 2007; the increase in ratings were credited to NBC's broadcast of The Sound of Music Live!--a live television adaptation of the original musical which aired earlier that month . </P> <P> In the United Kingdom, the film was first aired on BBC One on 25 December 1978 and, as of December 2016, fifteen times since, mostly around Christmas time . As the BBC channels in Britain are not funded by advertising there was no need to cut scenes to fit within a timeslot and the film was screened in the full 174 - minute version without breaks . </P>

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