Technology / Television (TV) Glossary

Multiple-Camera Production: A mode of production unique to television wherein two or more cameras are used to record the scene, enabling simultaneous and/or post-production editing. The mode used in most sitcoms and al . . . View Full Definition

Multiscan Monitor: Monitors that are capable of displaying a range of resolutions or graphics standards having different horizontal and vertical frequencies.

Music Television: Generally refers to a system, such as a cable or satellite service (e.g., MTV, CMT), through which musical broadcast material is delivered.

Music Video: A visual representation of or accompaniment to a song or other musical selection that usually exists independently as a recording.

Musical Director: Person who selects and arranges the music for a program.

Must Carry: As of 2002, the FCC established a condition that if a satellite TV service provider is going to carry one local network in a specific market place or DMA, then they must carry all local netw . . . View Full Definition

Mythic Analysis: An interpretive strategy of genre analysis that approaches genres in terms of archetypes, stories shared by large segments of a culture which offer the researcher evidence of that society's . . . View Full Definition

Narration (Voice-Over): When a character's or omniscient narrator's voice is heard over an image.

Narrative Enigma: A question that underpins a story and will (in classical films) or will not (in soap opera) be answered at the conclusion.

Narrative Function: A specific action or an attribute of a character in a narrative--according to the narrative theory of V.I. Propp.

Narrative Image: A particular representation of a program created by advertising and promotion in order to entice viewers.

National Association Of Broadcasters (NAB): A non-profit organization supported by TV and radio broadcasters whose purpose is to demonstrate to legislative bodies and other interested parties that broadcasters can maintain adequate st . . . View Full Definition

National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (Nrtc): This organization provides telecommunications services to rural electric and rural telephone cooperatives. If you live in a NRTC district, you cannot use directv services unless you go thro . . . View Full Definition

National Spot: A form of broadcast advertising in which national advertisers, through their agency or buying service, select their target markets and stations to fit their marketing needs. The station usua . . . View Full Definition

National Standards And Testing Program (NSTP): The NSTP is a program created to provide basic installation training to satellite TV systems installers.

National Television System Committee (NTSC): A committee established by various manufacturers of television equipment in order to develop a set of standards that would render color transmission and reception compatible to black-and-whi . . . View Full Definition

Naturalistic Animation: An aesthetic tenet of animation which advocates that animation replicate live-action film/video as much as possible: cartoon characters should resemble objects in reality and our view of the . . . View Full Definition

Naturalistic Performance: Performance style in which the actor attempts to create a character that the audience will accept as a plausible and believable human being, rather than an actor trying to portray someone.

Negotiated Reading: In cultural studies, the interpretation of the text that partially accepts and partially rejects the meanings that the text emphasizes.

Network: A connecting system which allows simultaneous telecasting of a single origination by a number of stations.

Nielsen Media Research (NMR): A firm involved in local and national measurement of the TV audience: also involved in other research activities.

Nielsen Station Index (NSI): Local market audience measurement reports.

Nielsen Television Index (NTI): National network audience measurement reports.

Noise Figure: A measure of the performance (noise contribution) of an LNB in decibels: the lower the better.

Non-Narrative Television: Televisual texts (e.g., news and sports programs, game shows, some commercials) that present reality to us without using conventional narrative structures. Instead, nonnarrative television r . . . View Full Definition

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