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| in television, standard broadcast signals made of radio waves (replaced by digital standards in 2009). |
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| in television, the type of signals that are transmitted as binary code. |
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| in television programming, the hours between 8 and 11 PM, when networks have traditionally drawn their largest audiences and charged their highest advertising rates. |
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| the period in television history, roughly from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, that refers to the dominance of the Big Three networks- ABC, CBS, and NBC- over programming and prime-time viewing habits; the era development of VCRs, cable, and new TV networks. |
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| an early cable system that originated where mountains or tall buildings blocked TV signals; because of early technical and regulatory limits, CATV contained only twelve channels. |
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| any specialized electronic programming or media channel aimed at a target audience. |
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| in cable programming, a tier of channels composed of local broadcast signals, non broadcast access channels (for local government, education, and general public use), a few regional PBS stations, and a variety of cable channels downlinked form communication satellites. |
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| local independent TV stations, such as WTBS in Atlanta or WGN in Chicago, that have uplinked their signals onto a communication satellite to make themselves available nationwide. |
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| in cable programming, a tier of channels that subscribers can order at an additional monthly fee over their basic cable service; these may include movie channels and interactive services |
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| a cable-television service that allows customers to select a particular movie for a fee, or to pay &25 to $40 for a special one-time event. |
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| cable-television technology that enables viewers to instantly order programming such as movies to be digitally delivered to their sets. |
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| direct broadcast satellite |
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| a satellite-based service that for a monthly fee downlinks hundreds of satellite channels and services; DBS began distributing video programming directly to households in 1994 |
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| the process whereby television viewers record shows and watch them later, when it is convenient for them |
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| the computer-type screens on which consumers can view television, movies, music, newspapers, and books. |
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| technologies like smartphones, iPods, iPads, and mobile TV devices that are forcing major changes in consumer viewing habits and media content creation. |
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| before the days of videotape, a 1950s technique for preserving television broadcasts by using a film camera to record a life TV show off a studio monitor. |
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| short television comedy skits that are usually segments of TV variety shows; sometimes known as vaudeo, the marriage of vaudeville and video. |
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| a type of comedy series that features a recurring cast and set as well as several narratives scenes; each episode establishes a situation, complicates it, develops increasing confusion among its characters, and then resolves the complications. |
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| a TV hybrid of the sitcom in which characters and stetings are usually more important than complicated situations; it generally features a domestic problem or work issue that characters have to solve. |
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| a popular form of early TV programming that brought live dramatic theater to television; influenced by stage plays, anthologies offered new teleplays, casts, directors, writers, and sets from week to week. |
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| a narrative form well suited to television because the main characters appear every week, sets and locales remain the same, and technical crews stay with the program; episodic series feature new adventures each week, but a handful of characters emerge with whom viewers can regularly identify. |
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| in television production, any situation comedy or dramatic program whose narrative structure includes self-contained stories that feature a problem, a series of conflicts and a resolution from week to week. |
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| a radio or TV program, such as a soap opera, that features continuing story lines from day to day or week to week. |
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| a radio or TV station that, though independently owned, signs a contract to be part of a network and receives money to carry the network's programs; in exchange, the network reserves time slots, which it sells to national advertisers. |
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| an FCC regulation that reduced networks' control of prime-time programming to encourage more local news and public-affairs programs, often between 6 and 7 PM. |
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| FCC rules that prohibited the major networks from running their own syndication companies or from charging production companies additional fees after shows had completed their prime-time runs; most fin-syn rules were rescinded in the mid-1990s. |
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| rules established by the FCC requiring all cable operators to assign channels to and carry all local TV broadcasts on their systems, thereby ensuring that local network affiliates, independent stations (those not carrying network programs), and public television channels would benefit form cable's clearer reception. |
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| in cable television, a tier of non-broadcast channels dedicated to local education, government, and the public. |
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| in cable television, channels that allow citizens to buy time for producing programs or presenting their own viewpoints. |
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| communication businesses, such as broadcasters or cable TV companies, that are entitled to choose what channels or content to carry. |
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| a communication or transportation business, such as a phone company or a taxi service, that is required by the law to offer service on a first-come, first-served basis to whoever can pay the rate; such companies do not get involved in content. |
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| Telecommunications Act of 1996 |
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| the sweeping update of telecommunications law that led to a wave of media consolidation. |
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| in television, the process whereby a TV production company leases its programs to a network for a license fee that is actually less than the cost of production; the company hopes to recoup this loss later in rerun syndication. |
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| the fee that cable providers pay to broadcast networks for the right to carry their channels |
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| TV stations "owned and operated" by networks |
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| leasing TV stations or cable networks for the exclusive right to air TV shows. |
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| in TV syndication, popular, lucrative, and enduring network reruns, such as the Andy Griffith Show or I Love Lucy. |
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| in television, the time slot either immediately before the evening's prime-time schedule (called early fringe) or immediately following the local evening news or the network's late-night talk shows (called late fringe). |
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| in television, the process whereby older programs that no longer run during prime time are made available for reruns to local stations, cable operators, online services, and foreign markets. |
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| in television, the process whereby new programs are specifically produced for sale in syndication markets rather than for network television. |
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| in TV audience measurement, a statistical estimate expressed as a percentage of households tuned to a program in the local or national market being sampled |
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| in TV audience measurement, a statistical estimate of the percentage of homes tuned to a certain program, compared with those simply using their sets at the time of a sample |
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| multiple-system operations |
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| large corporations that own numerous cable television systems. |
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| multichannel video programming distributors |
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| the cable industry;s name for its largest revenue generators, including cable companies and DBS providers |
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