Posters on the first three of various newsgroups, in a to date very lengthy thread, have posted:
I just got in on the tail end of this thread, but I wonder if something I heard (or think I recall hearing) on NPR the other day is (a) true?, and (b) relevant -- viz.
Professional TV producers and other network personnel commonly speak of "content" and "fill" in their TV programming.
To them, "content" refers (really!) to the **advertising** part of their programming.
And "fill" refers to all the rest of stuff (aka junk) that they have to (reluctantly) intersperse between the advertising, to get people to watch the (much more important) "content".
Notes:
1) If this is not true, apologies. I'm pretty sure I heard it, but I was driving at the time and could have misheard it.2 I've added comp.dcom.telecom to the reply list, not to drag that group into the rest of this otherwise not very great thread, but because there may be some professionals there who know if the above assertions are correct.
3) Even if it's not true, it's entirely believable (especially to anyone who's watched cable TV).4) By this definition, certain TV channels -- e.g., the shopping and "infomercial" channels -- have managed to reach the happy situation of having 100% "content" and zero useless "fill".
5) If it's actually true, and it's NPR who let the secret out, you can fully understand why the Bush administration is all out to kill NPR.