Glossary of TV Terms and Acronyms

Edited by Michael A. Dolan

DIRECTV

October 14, 1999

Affiliate

A broadcaster that gets most of its content from a network, and thus has an affiliation to that network.

ATSC

Advanced Television Systems Committee. Both a political body and the digital (US and other places) broadcast format.

Author

An entity, usually in a studio, that creates programs.

Broadcaster

An entity that emits radio waves.

DVB

Digital Video Broadcast. The digital (European and other places) broadcast format.

EBU

European Broadcast Union. The European political body.

EPG

Electronic Program Guide.

Event

A slice of time in a service. Usually corresponds to a program.

Feed

A specific service from a network.

Member Station

The equivalent of an affiliate in the PBS network.

MPEG

Moving Picture Experts Group.

Network

A company that aggregates programs and services and distributes them. A network may also be an author.

NTSC

National Television System Committee. US analog broadcast format.

PAL

Phase Alternate Line. European (except France) analog broadcast format.

Program

A collection of related video, audio and/or data content with a finite length. This is not an MPEG program.

SECAM

Sequential Couleur avec Memoire. French analog broadcast format.

Service

As defined by DVB - a collection of programs concatenated in time into a stream. Usually part of a transport. This is also known in ATSC as a virtual channel.

SMPTE

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. The international, ISO-sanctioned entity for most TV technical standards, especially ones that involve the studio.

Transport

As defined by ISO 13818-1 for MPEG - a multiplexed collection of services.

Transport Company

A company that aggregates and emits (usually in cable or satellite) a collection of channels. This is also sometimes referred to as a "network", so can be confusing.

VBI

Vertical Blanking Interval. A spot of "dead space" in the analog broadcast formats that has been used to insert "data".

Virtual Channel

The ATSC name for a service.