Also see:
PBS
Digital TV Glossary
FCC
Glossary of Telecommunications
| AC-Adult Contemporary | Popular music format for radio stations with broad adult appeal; mostly rock music. |
| Access charge | A fee charged subscribers or other telephone companies by a local exchange carrier—for the use of its local exchange network facilities. |
| Access programming | Programs produced or purchased that have not been previously aired on the commercial networks and are scheduled during prime access time (7:30 to 8pm in the top 50 markets). |
| Action news | Television news reporting style emphasizing news video, rapid pace, and visuals; frequently includes informal dialogue among anchors. |
| Actuality | On-the-spot news report or voice of a newsmaker (sometimes taped over the telephone) used to create a sense of reality or to enliven news stories, generally broadcast at a later time. |
| addressability | Electronic equipment that permits a cable operator to activate, disconnect, or unscramble by remote control the signal received by an individual subscriber. |
| Ad slick | Camera-ready high-resolution print of an advertisement. |
| ADI | Area of dominant influence. There are …. Geographical designations defining each television market exclusive of all others. ADI is Arbitron’s term; Nielsen’s term is DMA (designated market area), indicating the area in which a single station can effectively deliver an advertiser’s message to the majority of homes. |
| Adjacency | Commercial spot next to a specific program, especially local spots next to network programs. |
| Advanced television (ATV) | New television technology that provides better audio and video quality than the current standard television broadcast system. High Definition TV (HDTV) is a form of ATV. |
| Affiliate | Commercial radio or television station receiving more than 10 hours per week of network programming. This term occasionally applied to individual cable operators contracting for a pay-television or superstation service and to PBS and NPR stations that air national noncommercial programming. |
| AFTRA | American Federation of Television and Radio Artists; labor union representing performers whose voice or image is used on radio or television. |
| Air time | The actual broadcast time a station is in transmission; also, the starting time of a program. |
| Alphanumeric news service | Television news created on a character generator or computerized text generator and distributed as lines of text to be displayed on television receiver screens. |
| Amortization | The allocation of syndicated program series’ costs during the period of use to spread total tax or inventory and to determine how much each episode costs the purchaser per airing. |
| Analog | Analog is "shorthand" for the word analogous, which means "similar to." The signal being sent – voice or video—is sent as a stream of changing radio waves and is similar to what is received. This produces a nearly square video picture with generally a 480 line resolution picture. |
| Amplitude Modulation (AM) | A type of transmission used in either the standard radio broadcast band at 535-1705 kilohertz, short wave broadcasting, and in some private radio services such as citizens band (CB) and aviation. |
| Animation | Images recorded on traditional film; animation stands as well as any type of frame-by-frame recording of calculated stop/start sequences. |
| AOR | Album-oriented rock; a contemporary music format playing a broader range of songs than the top forty. |
| ASCAP | American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers; organization that licenses musical performance rights. |
| Ascertainment | Two-part examination of local audience needs required by the FCC to retain broadcast licenses. |
| Audience flow | The movement from one program or time period to another, either on the same program or from one station to another; includes turning sets on and off; positive flow is encouraged by similarity between contiguous programs. |
| Availability (avail) | Spot [advertising] positions available for sale by a station or network. |
| Bandwidth | A range of frequencies in the broadcast spectrum that is occupied by a signal. (For example, a television channel may have a bandwidth of 6 MHz.) The "necessary bandwidth" is the amount of spectrum required to transmit the signal without distortion or loss of information. FCC rules require suppression of the signal outside the band to prevent interference. |
| Barter | Exchange for the use of a television program by a station in return for commercial announcements (usually aired within the program being bartered but sometimes elsewhere in a station’s schedule); barter eliminates the exchange of cash and thus reduces a station’s financial commitment. |
| Basic cable | Standardized package of cable channels priced as lowest-cost unit. Usually includes "must carry" local network affiliates, public television stations, and a community access channel. |
| Beautiful music | Radio format emphasizing low-key, mellow popular music, generally with extensive orchestration and many classic popular songs (not rock or jazz). |
| Bicycling | Transfer of syndicated or group program tapes or films by means of wheeled delivery services or mail (in contrast to electronic transmission). |
| Billboard | Outdoor advertising display, often alongside a highway; text on-screen presentation of a station’s upcoming programs. |
| Bird | A colloquial expression used to refer to a communications satellite. |
| Blackout | A term used to describe the non-broadcast of a live event (i.e., sports, cultural) usually imposed by the sponsor(s) of the event in the interest of maintaining ticket sales, attendance, etc. |
| Block programming | Several hours of similar programs placed together in the same daypart to create audience flow. See stacking. |
| BMI | Broadcast Music, Inc.; music licensing organization created by the broadcasting industry to collect and pay fees for musical performance rights; competes with ASCAP. |
| Booster | A television or FM broadcast station, operating at relatively low power that receives a distant input signal, amplifies it, and retransmits it on the same channel. |
| Brand | The distinctive image of an entity. |
| Break | Time between or during programs for insertion of commercials, Ids, or other announcements. |
| Break copy | Continuity that fills the spaces between commercial spots at the hourly (and half-hourly) interruptions. |
| Broadband | A descriptive term for evolving digital technologies offering consumers a single switched facility offering integrated access to voice, high-speed data services, video-demand services, and interactive information delivery services. Broadband is also used to define an analog transmission techniuqe for data or video that provides multiple channels. A cable TV system, for example, employs analog broadband transmission. See bandwidth. |
| Broadcast | To transmit a signal over the spectrum to be received by two or more receiving devices. |
| Bug | A graphic (usually logo) of a network, station, or program appearing in the corner of the screen. |
| Bumper | On-air tease preceding a series of commercial spots that encourages viewers to stay tuned (uses copy such as "Stay tuned for… right after these messages") or a motion or still graphic for the program, station, or network used as a transition. |
| Bundling | Offering groups of programs at a single price; common practice of cable and pay television. See tiering. |
| Buzz | Word of mouth marketing. |
| Cable converter box | Equipment often provided by a cable company in a subscriber’s home that allows access or controls interference to cable service. |
| Cable lift | The percentage of homes subscribing to cable solely to acquire a pay-cable channel, such as HBO. |
| Character generator | Equipment capable of generating lines of text or effects to appear on the TV screen. |
| Churn | Rate of turnover in homes subscribing to cable or a pay-television system. |
| Clear channel | A clear channel protects stations designated as Class A stations from objectionable interference within their primary and secondary service areas. The secondary service areas of the station may extend outward for a distance of up to 750 miles at night. To provide this wide area service, Class A stations operate within a power range of 10 to 50 kilowatts. |
| Clip | See film clip. |
| Clutter | Material that is non-program and non-commercial; term often applied to public service announcements and promotional announcements. |
| Combo spot | Spot with content and cost shared between a network and its affiliate. |
| Common carriage schedule | The set of primetime programs that television stations have agreed to carry at the same time to take advantage of national promotion. |
| Contemporary | FCC radio term covering popular music formats, generally referring to rock. |
| Convergence | Bringing together multiple telecommunications technologies--computers/telephone/video/etc. The united delivery of products and services previously delivered separately. (Example: Cable company providing local phone service or phone company providing video services.) |
| Co-op | Cooperative arrangement whereby producer or syndicator makes partial payment for promotional announcements; also, print ad with costs shared by network and station. |
| Copy | Script for the audio portion of an announcement or text portion of an advertisement. |
| Core schedule | See common carriage schedule. |
| Counter programming | Scheduling programs against the competition to appeal to a segment of the audience not being served. |
| Courtesy | Announcement of last-minute cancellation of a program. |
| Crawl | Printed copy that moves horizontally across the screen. Used for weather warnings, program teases, etc. |
| Credits | Listing of personnel responsible for the production of a program, usually run at its conclusion—although sometimes interspersed with program content to reduce audience "flight." |
| Crossover | Use of character from one program in another. |
| Cross-plug | Specific reference to a following program inserted within the preceding show; use of on-air promos intended to stimulate viewing of subsequent programs. |
| Cumulative audience (cume) | The net audience tuning into a station over the period of one week; "cumes" count each listener or viewer only once regardless of how often he/she tunes in. |
| Cut-in tag | Live voice-over instruction to viewers to tune in upcoming episodes or programs. |
| Daypart | Period of two or more hours considered as a strategic unit in program schedules—such as morning drive-time in radio (6-10 am) and primetime in television (8-11pm). |
| Dedicated channel | Cable channel restricted to a single type of programming or aimed at a single audience—such as sports or children’s or menu/guide channels. |
| Demo | Demonstration; a tape intended to reflect the content, style, and quality of a musical composition, program, or on-air personality. |
| Demographics | Descriptive information on an audience, usually the vital statistics of age and sex. |
| Denial technology | The means for preventing non-subscribing homes from receiving pay-cable channels being distributed to nearby subscribers. |
| Digital TV | Television signal transmitted and interpreted as individual bits of binary information (the use of numbers 0 and 1), using electrical or electromagnetic signals that can be modulated to convey their specific content. A digital television picture has a 16:9 ratio and up to 1,080 lines of resolution, producing a sharper picture. See PBS Digital TV Glossary. |
| Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) | A high powered satellite that transmits or retransmits signals that are intended for direct reception by the public. The signal is transmitted to a small earth station or dish (usually 18-inches) mounted on homes or other buildings. |
| Disconnect (DC) | Subscriber who cancels cable service. |
| Distance signal importation | Acquiring television signals from distant stations by satellite or microwave for inclusion as cable channels over and above local broadcast signals. (Example: Superstations—WGN) |
| Distributor | Syndicator or marketer of programs to stations and groups of stations; also, a company that distributes signals from a satellite carrier and provides that transmission either directly to individual subscribers for private home viewing or to other program distribution companies for transmission. |
| Donut | Promotional form consisting of a fixed opening (introduction) and a fixed ending (tag). The middle is open and modular, designed to be filled with topical promotional materials. Also referred to as a sandwich or wraparound. |
| Double truck spread | Print ad that occupies space on both left-hand and right-hand pages of an editorial layout. Artwork runs across the fold, connecting the two pages. |
| Downlink | The part of a satellite system that includes the satellite itself, the receiving earth station, and the signal transmitted from the satellite to earth stations. |
| Drivetime | In radio, 6-10 am and 4-7pm. |
| Earth station | Equipment on earth that can transmit or receive satellite communications. In general usage, this refers to receive-only stations. |
| Edit point (music) | Spot at which an electronic edit is made by erasing old sounds and adding new ones. |
| Episodic promo | Topical on-air promo; this term is particularly used by ABC and NBC. See topical promo. |
| Exclusivity | The sole right to air a program within a given period of time in a given market; imported signals may undermine exclusivity agreements. |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| Feature | News program material other than hard news, daily sports/weather/stock market reports, or music. |
| Filler | Audio copy read or ad-libbed by on-air personalities. |
| Film clip | Selected scene, generally from a feature movie. |
| First run | The first airing of a program (not counting theatrical exhibits of feature films); especially use of programs not aired on the commercial television networks. |
| Fixed-position promotion | System in which promotion department contracts with sales department to reserve certain time spots in the schedule for on-air promotional messages that cannot be sold to commercial advertisers. |
| Focus group | Group of approximately one dozen people assembled to elicit their reactions to a program, personality, product, advertisement, station, campaign, etc. |
| Footprint | The area in which a specific transmission can be received. Some footprints cover as much as one-third of the earth, such as satellite or cell systems. |
| Format | Overall programming design or program content of a station. |
| Franchise | Agreement between local government and cable system operator permitting exclusive service in a geographic area. Rarely, two cable operators are granted franchises to compete in the same area. |
| Frequency | A measurement of the number of electromagnetic waves that pass a given point in a given time period. It is equal to the speed of light divided by wavelengths, and is expressed in Hertz (cycles per second). |
| Frequency Modulation (FM) | Radio transmission covering 88-108 megahertz on the broadcast band. FM is less susceptible to interference than AM broadcasting, and is also used in other frequency bands for two-way communication in land and marine services. |
| Fringe time | The television time periods adjacent to primetime—from 5-7pm and 11-midnight or later; early fringe includes 4-5pm. |
| Generic promo | Promotional spot highlighting intrinsic qualities and appeal of a station, program format, service, or program series rather than describing a specific episode. |
| Graphics | Illustrations for television or film; generally consist of drawings, logos, charts, or mounted photographs on camera cards or slides, and computer generated animation. |
| Gross rating point | The sum of the average quarter-hour ratings for all the commercial positions in a program (or series of availabilities); used to estimate the number of ratings points delivered by an advertising "buy." |
| Group-owned station | Radio or television station licensed to a corporation owning two or more stations. |
| Gutter | The fold connecting two facing pages in a magazine. |
| Hard news | Daily factual reporting of national, international, or local events. |
| High Definition Television (HDTV) | An improved television system which provides approximately twice the vertical and horizontal resolution of the existing television standards. It also provides video quality approaching that of 35 mm film, and audio quality equal to that of compact discs. |
| Hot clock | Wheel divided into segments, showing program, promotion, and commercial elements by the hour. |
| Home Satellite Dish (HSD) | A home receiver that permits the consumer to receive existing satellite transmissions. |
| HUTS | Households using television; rating industry term for the total number of sets turned on during an average quarter hour – that is, the actual viewing audience divided among all stations in the market. |
| Hypoing | Unethical promotion of a program or airing of special programs to increase audience size during a rating period. |
| ID | Identification; in broadcasting, an ID must state call letters and community of license (with FCC waiver, city of origin, or area of dominant influence) and may include channel number or frequency; in television, an ID may be audio or video. |
| Independent | Commercial television broadcast station that is not affiliated with a national network (or, by one FCC definition, carries less than 10 hours of network programming per week). |
| Information Superhighway | A term describing a network of integrated telecommunications systems connecting people around the world to information, businesses, government, and each other. See National Information Infrastructure. |
| Interactive | Cable or digital television system having channels for electronic responses by the user or subscriber. |
| Inventory | The amount of on-air segments available for sale or promotion. |
| Key pad | Hand held electronic unit used by subscriber to respond to cable operator’s receiving equipment or use interactive facilities. |
| Lead-in | The element immediately preceding a program, usually intended to encourage audience flow to the next program. |
| Lead-out | The element immediately after a program. |
| Leave-behind | Printed material, usually brochures or rate cards, used by sales staff to promote the station or a program package presented for sponsorship. |
| Library | Storage area for printed, taped, or filmed materials. |
| Live action | Not prerecorded on tape or film. |
| Local | Program or commercial content produced within a station’s broadcast coverage area; contrasts with network originated and syndicated programs. |
| Log | The official record of a broadcast day, created by specialized computer software, noting start, end, and running times of all elements, including programs, commercials, and promotional elements. Mandated by FCC. Created by "traffic" and used by on-air engineer and on-air control room. Variations noted for file. |
| Logo | Image used to identify the station, network, or programming service. |
| Long form | Longer than the usual 30 minutes for entertainment series or 60 minutes for specials (for example, a 60-minute or 90-minute fall season premiere for a new series or news Special Report) or playing the entire two or three hours of a film in one showing. |
| Lower third | The text area in the lower third of the television screen used for captions, identifications, and special information, such as school closings, call-in numbers, etc. |
| Make good | Spot announcement/commercial run at no charge by a station to replace one that was run at the wrong time, did not run at all or in its entirety, or had technical problems in transmission. |
| MDS | Multipoint distribution service; a television relay system radiating programs over a small area to private rooftop antennas. Commonly used by hotels, office buildings, and large apartment complexes not served by cable systems. |
| Merchandising | Selling by offering products; in sales promotion, encouraging clients to purchase advertising by creating goodwill with gifts; also, offering giveaways such as T-shirts to the general public for promotional purposes. |
| Mix session | Production session where all the components of a promotional announcement are assembled; usually involves editing the video component and combining it with the audio portion; may also be a sound mix only, in which case it means assembling voices, music, and special effects. |
| MSO | Multiple-system operator; a corporation that owns two or more local cable systems. (Insight, TCI, Time-Warner, Cox, etc.) |
| Multicasting | The ability of broadcasters to include more than one program within the broadcast stream. Discretionary use of bandwidth enables broadcasters to choose between sevderal SD (standard definition) programs or one HD (high definition) program in addition to some amount of discrentionary data. |
| Multiple spot | On-air promotional video (promo) containing mentions of several programs; used especially to promote a series of primetime programs. Also see stack and piggyback. |
| Music bed | Music track edited under voice-over copy or the sound track of a promotional spot. |
| Music package | Specially produced music (usually a music signature combined with a music bed) to be used in a promotional campaign |
| Music signature | Musical version of identification (or logo); may be combed with a video element; see signature. |
| NAB | National Association of Broadcasters; the major trade association of the broadcasting industry. |
| Narrowcasting | The delivery of cable programming to a small community or audience where that programming addresses the audience’s specific needs or desires. It is the opposite of broadcasting. |
| NAPTE | National Association of Television Program Executives. |
| National Information Infrastructure (NII) | The NII refers to a nationwide network of integrated telecommunications that connects people, businesses, schools, institutions and governments with one another. See Information Superhighway. |
| Network | Interconnected chain of broadcast stations or national cable program suppliers; refers to the administrative and technical unit that distributes originates schedules of programs. |
| Network-owned station | Radio or television station licensed to one of the commercial networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox); number that can be owned limited by the FCC. |
| New connect | Home recently wired for cable television service. |
| NPR | National Public Radio; a membership organization that supplies radio programming to public radio stations that are dues-paying members. |
| O&O | Broadcasting station owned and operated by one of the commercial networks. |
| Off-line pre-editing | Editing procedure in which rough footage is coded and transferred to cassette for previewing, planning, and sometimes rough assembly. |
| Off-network rerun | Television series that originally ran on one of the major networks, later offered by a syndicator to local stations. |
| Off-network syndication | Selling programs (usually series) that have appeared at least once on the national networks directly to station or pay-television. |
| On-air | Taped or live video or radio spots that are broadcast as distinguished from printed promotional material (ads, billboards). |
| On-the-spot coverage | Term used to denote "reality" on-air television promotions; may be on tape or live. |
| Outdoor | Billboards, signs, and display cards used for advertising. |
| Pay cable | Cable television programming service for which the subscriber pays an extra fee beyond the monthly cable fee; see pay television, basic cable, tiering. |
| Payola | Illegal payment for advertising a song or recording (or other product or service) on the air. |
| Pay television | Any programming for which a fee is paid by viewers, includes pay-cable and subscription television. Includes pay-per-view offered by cable and DBS. |
| PBS | Public Broadcasting Service; the non-commercial federally supported service that distributes programming nationally to member stations and serves as a representative of the public television industry. |
| Personality spot | Promotional element focusing on a particular on-air person (i.e., anchor, weatherman, etc.). |
| Piggybacking | Carrying promotional information for one program along with information on another program in the same spot or ad; also refers to commercial spots advertising more than one product. See multiple spot and stack ad. |
| Plugola | Material or copy included in a program for the purpose of covert advertising without disclosing that payment of some kind was made. |
| Positioning | Establishing a psychological difference (an advantage or preference) from competitors. |
| Preemption | Replacement of a previously scheduled program or cancellation of a commercial sold at a special price to accommodate another commercial sold at full rate. |
| Primetime | The period of peak television set use, comonly 7 to 11 p.m. in the East and West, 6-10pm in the Midwest, three hours of which are programmed by the networks. |
| Premium channels | Channels not included in a cable provider’s regular service tiers. There are additional monthly fees charged for receiving premium channels. |
| Primary Interchange Carrier (PIC) | The main long distance carrier used for "1+dialing" through which all interstate long distance toll calls are made. |
| Program clip | A short scene excerpted from a program. |
| Program log | Records once kept by a broadcasting station in a public file which provided a record of programs broadcast, program type, and program length. The logs also included commercial and public service spots. Broadcasters are no longer required to maintaining program logs. |
| Promo | Promotional video or audio promotion; a broadcast advertising spot promoting a program or episode or encouraging viewing/listening to a station or network’s entire schedule. |
| PTAR | FCC’s prime time access rule; limits evening network programming to three hours of entertainment material between the hours of 7 and 11 p.m. (EST) in the top 50 markets. |
| Public station | Noncommercial station (prior to 1967 called educational station) licensed by the FCC to offer non-commercial/educational service. |
| Rate card | Current listing of a station’s commercial time prices. |
| Rating | Audience measure unit representing the percentage of the total audience (whether sets on or not) tuned to a specific program (by average quarter-hour periods); also, average percentage of audience viewing a station or network. |
| Reach | The number of homes to which the service is available regardless of whether or not residents choose to subscribe. |
| Remote | Live production from locations other than a studio (football games, live news events). |
| Rerun | Repeat showing of episodes in a series first aired earlier in the season or some previous season. |
| Resolution | The amount of detail that can be seen in a broadcast image. The resolution of a TV screen is defined by the number of horizontal lines of picture elements that the screen displays and the number of pixels per line. |
| Rights or Rights Use Contract | Contractual agreement covering the number of airings of a program and restrictions on the use of segments to advertise scheduled showings. |
| Roll-in | Videotape insert used within another program or within pledge breaks for content changes. |
| Rough footage | Unedited, raw film or videotape footage form which the final edited version of an on-air promotional announcement is taken. |
| Royalty | Compensation paid to copyright holder for the right to use copyrighted material. |
| Runs | Number of times a spot or film is aired. |
| Sampling | Trying out programs by tuning in; especially important for new programs/series. |
| Satellite | A radio relay station that orbits the earth. A complete satellite communications system also includes earth stations that communicate with each other via the satellite. The satellite receives a signal transmitted by an originating earth station and retransmits that signal to the destination earth station(s). Satellites are used to transmit telephone, television, and data signals originated by common carriers, broadcasters, and distributors of CATV program material. |
| Scrambler | A device that electronically alters a program signal so that it can be seen only by persons, typically paid subscribers, with appropriate decoding devices. |
| Share | Measurement unit for comparing audiences; represents the percentage of total listening or viewing audience (with sets on) tuned to a given station; total shares in a designated area in a given time period equal 100 percent. |
| Shared ID | Identification that combines station and program identification—that is, title, day, and time. Varies in length from 2 to 10 seconds and usually constructed for television so that part of the information is visual and part aural. |
| Self life | The length of time a spot can run before it suffers from overexposure or is no longer applicable. |
| Signature | Identification, with the same function as a logo; signatures may be audio or video identifications, but logos are always visual. |
| Slamming | The term used to describe what occurs when a customer’s long distance service is switched from one long distance company to another company without the customer’s permission. Such unauthorized switching violates FCC rules. |
| Sound bite | Short clip of both audio and video recorded from a program or news story; designed to give the viewer a quick taste of the actual program or story. |
| Specific promo | Promotional spot showcasing a specific program and giving time, day, and station or network. |
| Sponsor | The advertiser featured in commercial announcements. (Underwriter in public broadcasting.) |
| Stack ad | Several promotional segments placed in one 30-second on-air spot or print advertisement. Also see multiple spot and piggybacking. |
| Stacking | Sequential airing of several hours of the same kind of programs; similar to block programming. |
| Station | Facility operated by a licensee to broadcast radio or television signals on an assigned frequency; may be affiliated by contract with a network or may be independent (unaffiliated); may be commercial or noncommercial. |
| Stripping | Putting successive episodes of a program into the same time period five days a week—for example scheduling Star Trek every evening at 7pm. |
| Stunting | Frequent shifting of programs in a schedule; also, using long form for a program’s introduction and using character crossovers from one program to another to attract viewers; frequently used in the week preceding the launch of a new fall season combined with heavy promotion. |
| Superstation | Independent television station that has its signal distributed by satellite to distant cable companies for retransmission to subscribers. |
| Surfing | A slang term used to describe switching a television from channel to channel in a continuous order with a remote control. Also used to describe the process of scanning entries on the Internet. |
| Sweeps | The four periods during each year when Arbitron and Nielson gather audience data for the entire country: November (fall season ratings become base for rest of the year); February (fall season programs again plus replacements); May (end of year ratings); July (summer replacements). The ratings on the sweeps determine network and station rates for advertising time until the next sweep. |
| Syndication | The marketing of programs on a station by station basis rather than through a network to affiliates, independents, and cable for a specific number of plays. |
| Syndicator | Company that holds the rights to distribute programs nationally or internationally. |
| Tag | Short summary statement, usually a command, often at the end of a promo; may tell the viewer or listener the program’s title, day, and time and the station’s channel number or call letters. |
| Tease | Brief news item or program spot intended to lure an audience into watching or listening to the succeeding program or news story by provoking interest; usually incomplete to intrigue viewers or listeners. Also called a teaser or bumper. |
| Telecommunications | Any transmission, emission, or reception of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. |
| Teletext | Textual and graphic information broadcast in the vertical blanking intervals between conventional video frames in television signals. It requires a special adapted. |
| Tiering | Different pay schedules offered by cable systems to subscribers for added channels of programming. |
| Topical promo | Information on the same or next day’s program content, especially on content of news casts. |
| Tradeout or Trade | Exchange of spot air time for merchandise or services useful for gifts to clients, station operations, or as contest prizes or for advertising time or space in another medium. Reciprocal trades. |
| Trailer | Short segment of film or video used to announce program contents. |
| Transponder | The device in a communications satellite that receives signals from the earth, translates, and amplifies them on another frequency, and retransmits them. |
| Tune-in advertising | Information on date, time, and channel of a program. |
| TvQs | Ratings for television personalities and programs reflecting both their popularity and familiarity to audiences. |
| Ultra High Frequency (UHF) | The part of the radio spectrum from 300 to 3000 megahertz which includes TV channels 14-83, as well as many land mobile and satellite services. |
| Underwriting | Grants from foundations or private corporations to cover costs of producing or airing a program or series on public television or radio, in exchange for on-air presentations or credit or related recognition. On-air messages cannot include "call to action." |
| Uplink | The signal that carries information from an earth station source up to a satellite. |
| Value Added Network (VAN) | A national (or international) enhanced network that is designed expressly to carry data communications. VANs provide special services to their customers, such as access to databases. |
| Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) | The period of time between television pictures, which is visible as a black bar when the picture rolls. The VBI contains signals that allow receivers to keep the picture stable and has additional signal capacity that can be used to carry closed captioning information, test, cue and control signals, and other data services. |
| Very High Frequency (VHF) | The part of the radio spectrum from 30 to 300 megahertz that includes TV channels, 2-13, the FM broadcast band, and some marine, aviation, and land mobile services. |
| Videotext | An interactive service connecting a TV set and text or video recorder to a central computer by phone lines or cable TV. The computer provides textual information on demand and transactional services. |
| Voice over (VO or VOCA) | The narrative portion of a commercial or promo; usually recorded by an announcer and including vital information for the spot. |
| Wireless communication | Any broadcast or transmission that can be received through microwave or radio frequencies without use of land lines or a cable connection for reception. |
| Wraparound | See donut. |
Content excerpted from Glossary published in Promotion and Marketing
for Broadcasting & Cable,"
Second Edition, by Susan Tyler Eastrman and Robert A. Klein,
Waveland Press, Inc., 1991.