Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Prime Time

Definition: Prime Time

Prime Time

Noun

1. The hours between 7 and 11 p.m. when the largest tv audience is available.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

 

Specialty Definition: Prime Time

DomainDefinition

Computing

Prime time n. [from TV programming] Normal high-usage hours on a system or network. Back in the days of big timesharing machines `prime time' was when lots of people were competing for limited cycles, usually the day shift. Avoidance of prime time was traditionally given as a major reason for night mode hacking. The term fell into disuse during the early PC era, but has been revived to refer to times of day or evening at which the Internet tends to be heavily loaded, making Web access slow. The hackish tendency to late-night hacking runs has changed not a bit. Source: Jargon File.

Fine Arts

Programs aired in -- are limited to 10 minutes of commercial material. . . in any 60-minutes period. Source: European Union. (references)

Post & Telecom

Broadcast periods viewed or listened to by the greatest number of persons and for which a station charges the most for air time. Source: European Union. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Prime time

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Prime time refers to the block of programming on American television during the late evening. In the United States, television networks broadcast their prime time programming in two blocks one for the Eastern half of the United States and one for the Western half of the United States. Prime time broadcasting is therefore viewed between 8:00 P.M. and 11:00 P.M. Eastern time and between 7:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. Central. The Western block of programming is broadcast with a time delay of two hours which results in it being viewed between 8:00 and 11:00 P.M. Mountain and 7:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. Pacific.

Sometimes the hour before the times mentioned is also considered prime time, especially on Sunday.

Prime time is the block of time with the most viewers and is generally where television networks and local stations spend most of their programming budgets and reap much of their advertising revenues. The existence of prime time in the United States is largely an artifact of now repealled regulations of the Federal Communications Commission which limited the number of hours that a network can require its affiliates to broadcast. As a result, networks generally require their affiliates to broadcast expensive network programming at the hours which have the highest viewing audience.

Other blocks of programming include the evening news, daytime soap operas, and overnight, Sunday morning talkshows.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Prime time."

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Crosswords: Prime Time

Non-English Usage: "Prime Time" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses.

Turkish (prime time).

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Modern Usage: Prime Time

DomainUsage

Lyrics

Stop! Prime Time! (I Can't Watch This; performing artist: Weird Al Yankovic)

Movie/TV Titles

Tom Smothers' Organic Prime Time Space Ride (1971)

Once Upon a Prime Time (1966)

The Prime Time (1960)

Prime Time (1996)

Go-Go's: Prime Time (1985)

Song Titles

3 Wishes (performing artist: Ornette and Prime Time Coleman)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Prime Time

DomainTitle

Books

  • Dreaming of Jeannie: Tv's Prime Time in a Bottle (reference)

  • Prime Time Mad Libs: World's Greatest Word Game (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

  

Theater & Movies

  • Playboy: Prime Time Playmates (reference)

  • Prime Time TV From the Early Days: Mr. and Mrs, North and Dangerous (reference)

  • Prime Time Murder (reference)

    (more DVD examples; more video examples)

  

Music

  

High Tech

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Prime Time

Computer Images:
Prime Time

More pictures...

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Non-Fiction Usage: Prime Time

SubjectTopicQuote

Civil Liberties

Colombia

In late January, RCN prime time journalist and host of RCN top-ranking opinion show La Noche Claudia Gurisatti left the country for 3 months, following an alert from the authorities of a plot to kill her. (references)

Bangladesh

The activities of the Prime Minister occupy the bulk of prime time news bulletins on both television and radio, followed by the activities of members of the Cabinet. (references)

Economic History

Yemen

The maximum ad rate on Channel One for imported brand products during prime time (from 8:55 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.) is $500 per 30 seconds between programs and $650 per 30 seconds during programs, plus a commercial agency commission. (references)

Political Economy

Costa Rica

US networks ABC and NBC recently withdrew their prime time programming from cable providers due to the lack of an acceptable licensing and royalty arrangement. (references)

ITALY

The Italian law exceeds the EU Directive by making 51 percent European content mandatory during prime time, and by excluding talk shows from the programming that may be counted towards fulfilling the quota. (references)

Trade

France

The prime time rules go beyond the requirements of the EU Broadcast Directive and limit the access of U.S. programs to the lucrative French prime time market. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Expression: Prime Time

Expression using "prime time": not ready for prime time. Additional references.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Prime Time

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

prime time

174

prime time travel

4

league prime time

25

prime time toy

4

prime time live

24

prime time video

4

limousine prime time

14

prime time newspaper

4

glick prime time

12

3 burmese minister prime time

3

prime time tv

10

abc live prime time

3

america prime time

9

advertising prime time

3

prime time ticket

9

cbs prime time

3

prime time television

9

canadian line minister prime time

3

abc prime time

9

business institute prime time

3

cigar prime time

8

fitness prime time

3

athletic club prime time

8

entertainment prime time

3

playboy playmate prime time

8

50s cafe prime time

3

basketball league prime time

7

bingo prime time

3

marketing prime time

5

personnel prime time

3

basketball prime time

5

pizza prime time

3

nfl prime time

5

club prime time

2

iowa league prime time

5

news prime time

2

fishing prime time

5

polkas prime time

2

prime time wrestling

4

hockey prime time

2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Prime Time

Language Translations for "prime time"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Arabic 

  

‏ساعة الإستماع القصوي. (various references)

   

French

  

heure de grande écoute. (various references)

   

German

  

Prime Time, Hauptsendezeit. (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

főműsoridő. (various references)

   

Italian

  

prima serata, periodo di diffusione principale, fascia di massimo ascolto. (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

プッシュプル増幅器 (placard, plaza, plug, plug compatible, plywood, PO, practical, practice, pragmatism, Prague, Pravda, price, price leadership, pride, primal, primary, primary care, primary health care, prime rate, priori, priority, privacy, private, private brand, private offering, private room, prize money, Puccini, pudding, push lock, push-button phone, pushing, push-pull amplifier, put), コンマ以下 (below the decimal, cockroach, commune, connecting rod, con-rod, conversion, convert, convolution, convolve, cornrow style, ghost, ghost town, ghost writer, giving permission, go steady, goal, goal getter, goal kick, goal line, goal post, goal reached, goalkeeper, goatability, go-cart, goggles, go-go, go-go dance, going my way, gold, gold medalist, gold rush, Goldberg, golden, golden age, golden disk, golden hour, golden time, Golden Week, golem, Gordon, gorgeous, gothic, green light, hit the goal, make the goal, of no account, traffic light). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

プライ タイ , ゴールデンアワー (golden hour). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

imepray imetay.(various references)

   

Portuguese

  

horário nobre. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

horas de audiencia, hora de mayor audiencia. (various references)

   

Swedish

  

bästa sändningstid. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

prime time, izlenme oranının en yüksek olduğu zaman. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Anagrams: Prime Time

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "e-e-i-i-m-m-p-r-t"

-2 letters: emeriti, emptier.

-3 letters: empire, epimer, metier, mitier, permit, pitier, premie, reemit, retime, temper.

-4 letters: emmer, emmet, merit, meter, metre, mimer, miter, mitre, peter, prime, primi, remet, remit, retem, retie, tempi, timer, tripe.

-5 letters: emir, emit, impi, item, meet, meme, mere, mete, mime, mire, miri, mite, peer, peri, perm, pert, pier, pree, prim, rete, rime.

 Words containing the letters "e-e-i-i-m-m-p-r-t"
 

+2 letters: imperilment.

 

+3 letters: imperilments.

 

+4 letters: epigrammatize, pyrimethamine.

 

+5 letters: epigrammatized, epigrammatizer, epigrammatizes, impermeability, impoverishment, pyrimethamines.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Crosswords
3. Usage: Modern
4. Usage: Commercial
5. Images: Slideshow
6. Quotations: Non-fiction
7. Expressions
8. Expressions: Internet
9. Translations: Modern
10. Anagrams
11. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.