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Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) |
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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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| in cable programming, a tier of channels composed of local brodcast signals, nonbroadcast access channels (for local government, education, and general public use), a few regional PBS stations, and a variety of cable channels downlinked from 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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| a cable-television service that allows customers to select a particular movie for a fee, or to pay $25 to $40 for a special onetime event |
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| cable television technology that enables viewers to instantly order programming such as movies to be digitally delivered to their seats |
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| before the days of videotape, a 1950s technique for preserving television broadcasts by using a film camera to record a live TV show off a studio monitor |
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| Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) |
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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 7pm |
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| the computer-type screens on which consumers can view television, movies, music, newspapers, and books |
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| the process whereby television viewers tape shows and watch them later, when it is convenient for them |
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| stations "owned and operated" by networks |
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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 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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| the original Internet, designed by the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) |
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| data transmission over a fiber-optic cable- a signaling method that handles a wide range of frequencies |
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| Internet Web sites that are capable of being edited by any user; the most famous is Wikipedia |
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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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| an entry point to the Internet, such as a search engine |
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