The final phase of the production cycle is post-production, where the material shot or gathered during the production phase is either polished, if shot as-live in studio or on OB, or shaped into a completed program. The latter has been increasingly the case over the last two decades, as the impact of digital technology within post-production has grown. Digital editing has opened up a range of new approaches to the craft and, as a result, triggered dramatic changes in editing styles.

Post-production involves expensive and sophisticated equipment, which might create the impression it is principally a technological phase, but it is not. It is as creative as any other phase of the production cycle. All the elements that have been gathered to tell the program's story are brought together in this phase, to construct a cohesive narrative progressing logically to an end point, or otherwise build through steps or segments that have a unity and generate some sort of enjoyment for the audience. The craft of getting that progression to flow smoothly and entertainingly is the craft of editing. It is the art of putting shots in order so that they make sense and tell a story.

The cost of the technology that carries out this craft has the capacity to seriously damage the program's budget, at a time when there are few offsets for the production to recover its position.