Deck 6: Commercial Operations

Question 1

Which of the following statements about commercial broadcast stations is false?

A)They are licensed by the federal government to serve a specific community.
B)They carry commercial messages for compensation.
C)They encompass both transmission and programming functions.
D)They broadcast their signals on coaxial cables.
E)They normally combine three groups of facilities: business offices, studios, and transmitter.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The head of a station's technical functions is the

A)chief engineer.
B)general manager.
C)master controller.
D)program director.
E)program manager.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The department that prepares daily program logs and maintains a list of commercial openings in the schedule is known as the __________ department.

A)available
B)continuity
C)master control
D)engineering
E)traffic

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following most closely describes the traditional fee structure when an affiliate s station airs programs from one of the Big Three networks?

A)The network pays a fee to every station.
B)The station pays a fee to the network.
C)The station pays a fee directly to the network's program producers.
D)The network pays a fee to O&O stations only.
E)No payments are made, but both the network and the stations retain revenue earned from the sale of commercial time.

Question 5

The compensation provided by broadcast television networks to their affiliate stations accounts for approximately __________ percent of their gross revenues.

A)less than 5
B)10-20
C)30-40
D)50-65
E)75-85

Question 6

The principal source of a cable system's revenue comes from

A)advertising.
B)monthly subscriber fees.
C)financial compensation from superstations carried on the cable system.
D)financial compensation from networks to cable systems.
E)splitting advertising revenues with stations they retransmit.

Question 7

Vertical integration is an established and successful pattern of operation primarily in

A)independent television station operations.
B)the motion picture industry.
C)network affiliation television.
D)the radio industry.
E)the cable industry.

Question 8

In 1988 the FCC reinstated this rule that requires cable systems carrying superstation programming to delete programming that duplicated local station syndicated shows.

A)Syndex
B)Access channels
C)Local origination
D)Multiplexing
E)PTAR rules

Question 9

PPV subscribers

A)pay a separate charge for each PPV program they watch.
B)pay a monthly fee for all PPV programs.
C)must purchase satellite dishes for programming
D)use special advertiser supported PPV networks the cable company provides.
E)cannot take advantage of multiplexing.

Question 10

The largest advertising medium in terms of total volume is

A)direct mail.
B)newspapers.
C)radio.
D)television.
E)cable.

Question 11

Which of the following is an advantage of broadcast advertising?

A)The transient nature of advertising.
B)The expense of advertising.
C)The ease of zapping and zipping.
D)The access to a large audience.
E)Reaching a superfluous audience.

Question 12

When Goodyear buys time on various television stations in ten markets in the Midwest, this kind of advertising is known as

A)local.
B)network.
C)national spot.
D)centralized.
E)sustaining.

Question 13

Announcements that call attention to future programs of networks or stations are called

A)commercials.
B)IDs.
C)station breaks.
D)network or station adjacencies.
E)promos.

Question 14

The statistic used to compare the relative cost of advertising on various stations and other media is the

A)GRP.
B)TRP.
C)grid.
D)CPM.
E)ROS.

Question 15

The advantage of using CPM is that it

A)allows advertisers to compare costs among stations or different media.
B)reduces zipping and zapping.
C)allows broadcasters to charge advertisers more when audiences exceed promised levels.
D)allows for spot packaging for preferred advertisers.
E)allows advertisers to divide station time into specific dayparts.

Question 16

When a station exchanges commercial time for advertiser goods and services, such as a truck for the news department, this is called a

A)per inquiry.
B)plug.
C)time brokerage.
D)CPM
E)trade deal.

Question 17

When an advertiser does not pay for advertising time but only for the number of items sold in direct response to a commercial, this is called a

A)per inquiry.
B)run-of-schedule.
C)time brokerage.
D)trade deal.
E)barter deal.

Question 18

People who sell time in the national market and function as an extension of a station's own sales staff are called

A)customer service representatives.
B)marketing sales representatives.
C)national sales representatives.
D)network sales representatives.
E)trade deal representatives.

Question 19

A __________ is evidence that a commercial aired according to contract.

A)computer tracker
B)rate card
C)billings commission
D)station log
E)avail listing

Question 20

Advertising agencies do all of the following for clients EXCEPT

A)conduct research.
B)create commercials.
C)design advertising campaigns.
D)buy time on media.
E)offer unwired networks.

Question 21

Program-length commercials not aimed at children are

A)banned from radio, television, and cable.
B)prohibited on television but acceptable on radio and cable.
C)acceptable on cable but not on radio or television.
D)acceptable on radio but banned on television and cable.
E)acceptable on radio, television, and cable.

Question 22

Under-the-table payoffs by recording company representatives to disc jockeys for putting their music on the air is called

A)clipping.
B)double billing.
C)payola.
D)plugola.
E)hype.

Question 23

The term "tiering" in cable refers to

A)separating cable services into groups with a separate fee for each level.
B)paying for pay-per-view programming.
C)upgrading an existing cable system.
D)providing interactive video-on-demand (VOD).
E)providing basic service only.

Question 24

Those working in __________ typically earn the highest income at broadcast stations.

A)programming
B)news
C)production
D)sales
E)traffic

Question 25

In terms of the number of jobs available, which of these categories seems most promising for applicants trying to begin a career in broadcasting?

A)Acting
B)Camera operation and video switching
C)News reporting and writing
D)Producing and directing
E)Traffic

Question 26

Broadcasting majors would be well advised to consider job opportunities in

A)animation.
B)daytime soap operas.
C)door-to-door sales.
D)corporate video.
E)designing.

Question 27

When digital television comes into widespread use, capital outlay will be the greatest for

A)broadcast networks.
B)cable networks.
C)consumers.
D)broadcast television stations.
E)industry program suppliers.

Question 28

Preoccupation with profit and loss statements to the exclusion of all else is called

A)trafficking mentality.
B)bottom-line mentality.
C)leveraged buyouts.
D)public interest.
E)cash flow operation.

Question 29

All broadcast stations and cable systems are local in the sense that each is licensed or franchised to serve a specific local community.

Question 30

Avails is the process of rescheduling missed or technically inadequate commercials.

Question 31

Primary affiliates share affiliation of a given network with other stations in the same market.

Question 32

Traditionally, stations pay networks for the programs received.

Question 33

While major television stations may serve an entire metropolitan area, most large cities are divided into several cable franchise areas.

Question 34

Even the largest MSOs serve fewer than 20 percent of all television homes.

Question 35

Ownership links with related businesses such as program production, distribution and delivery are called system interconnects.

Question 36

Most cable networks, such as ESPN and MTV, are advertiser supported.

Question 37

Superstations serve specific markets and yet they also reach hundreds of other markets throughout the country through satellite distribution to cable systems.

Question 38

Cooperative advertising occurs when two local retailers share advertising costs.

Question 39

Major advertisers usually concentrate their advertising dollars on a single medium.

Question 40

The variable affecting the price of broadcast time that has the greatest overall effect on advertising rates is the day of the week a spot appears.

Question 41

Typically stations divide their time into specific dayparts with different prices for each, and these divisions are called time classes.

Question 42

All regional and national advertisers and most large local advertisers deal with media through advertising agencies.

Question 43

The sponsor identification rule, Section 317 of the Communications Act, was designed to prevent deception by disguised propaganda from unidentified sources.

Question 44

As of 2009, program-length commercials, or infomercials, are prohibited.

Question 45

Congress has banned hard liquor ads from broadcast and cable.

Question 46

In 1996, Congress ended most cable television rate regulation.

Question 47

The 1992 Cable Act's anti-buythrough provision prohibits cable operators from requiring subscribers to take basic and extended basic before they can buy any premium services.

Question 48

According to the NAB, in the late 1990s, radio general managers earned slightly more than their television counterparts.

Question 49

Describe the organization of commercial broadcast television stations.

Question 50

What is a network's relationship with its affiliates?

Question 51

How does the concept "vertical integration" apply to the media?

Question 52

How do monetary resources influence the electronic media's structure, services, and operations?

Question 53

Describe economic conditions affecting the sales and prices of media outlets and program services.

Question 54

What are the advantages and disadvantages of broadcast and cable advertising for advertisers at the local, regional, and national levels?

Question 55

How do regular commercial announcements differ from promotional and public-service announcements?

Question 56

Describe the factors influencing advertising rates.

Question 57

What role do advertising agencies play on sale and development of commercial messages?

Question 58

How do media profitability and media bottom-line mentality reveal themselves in the media's product and structure?