# What’s it called when you watch what’s on tv when it airs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950 "2025-02-28T22:37:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/1 "2025-02-28T22:37:58Z")
I know you’re thinking “live TV,” a la the Super Bowl or Academy Awards or what have you, but that’s not what I’m asking about. I mean like at the doctor’s office where you watch Family Feud or whatever while it’s on. Or you don’t want to wait to watch Ghosts and you dutifully sit down at your TV on Thursday at 8/7 Central to watch it. Or you just have the tv on for background noise. I know there’s a term for this in the media industry. Linear TV, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/2 "2025-02-28T22:44:57Z")
Ad guy here. “[Linear TV](https://www.marketingarchitects.com/blog/what-is-linear-tv-advertising-and-why-does-it-matter)” is a general term for “traditional” broadcast and cable channels, which show programming on a schedule. It kind of addresses what you’re talking about, but many people who watch programming on linear TV channels are still time-shifting the programming (via DVRs), recording it when it’s being broadcast, and watching it later. A term that’s closer is “[appointment TV](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appointment%20TV),” but that’s mostly for actively choosing to watch a program on a linear TV channel, when it’s on in real-time (the second case in your examples): > [@](#): > > television programming that people make time to watch at the time of its original broadcast because they have a strong desire to see what will happen or be done or said I’m not certain that there’s a broader term for “any time you’re watching a linear TV channel in real time, regardless of how involved/engaged you are with it.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/3 "2025-02-28T22:46:27Z")
If I’m watching Family Feud because it’s on and I’m too lazy to change the channel, that’s “passive viewing.” If I’m watching Ghosts because I’ve scheduled myself to watch it, that’s “appointment television.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/4 "2025-02-28T23:43:44Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I mean like at the doctor’s office where you watch Family Feud or whatever while it’s on. Or you don’t want to wait to watch Ghosts and you dutifully sit down at your TV on Thursday at 8/7 Central to watch it. Or you just have the tv on for background noise. Those seem to me to be three utterly different situations. In the first, you’re actively paying attention to the show as a boredom reliever, but had no say in what program is being shown to you. In the second, you actively sought out that program and accepted the channel and timeslot it was broadcast on/in. In the third, you probably aren’t paying any attention to the screen whatsoever and the audio is just noise. You did pick the channel, but otherwise neither know nor care what show is playing. My bottom line: IMO if there are industry terms, there’ll be three of them for these very different ideas of what matters to them: how engaged you are with the show and, more importantly, the ads. IMO the second is simply traditional scheduled broadcast TV viewing. Not pre-recorded at your end, not time-shifted, not streamed on demand. The content itself may be recorded, but your use of it doesn’t depend on that. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/5 "2025-02-28T23:48:40Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > … any time you’re watching a linear TV channel in real time … The term I use is “real time” which is easily understood by people with Computer Science degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/6 "2025-02-28T23:57:36Z")
It used to just be called “watching TV” so whatever term we use will be a recent one. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/7 "2025-03-01T00:07:41Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > If I’m watching Family Feud because it’s on and I’m too lazy to change the channel, that’s “passive viewing.” “Passive viewing” is also the first thing to pop into my head, but then he mentioned having the television on just for the background noise. For that I would say either “habitual” or “ritualistic” television consumption. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/8 "2025-03-01T01:14:08Z")
And then you have people like me who want background sound, but will use music channels for that purpose, as I am right now with Amazon Music happily streaming to my TV via FireStick. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/9 "2025-03-01T10:29:28Z")
Years ago, when we had no other choice but to watch live TV, commercials were simply part of the experience. Today, I’m not sure if there is a term for those watching live TV at home other than someone who doesn’t mind commercials. I dislike them. I have Tivo and it records the last 30 minutes of the channel it’s tuned to. If I want to watch news, I’ll rewind to the beginning, skip through commercials until I reach the next live TV commercial and then do something else. I’m at the point now when I seldom if ever, watch live TV. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/10 "2025-03-01T13:29:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In the third, you probably aren’t paying any attention to the screen whatsoever and the audio is just noise. You did pick the channel, but otherwise neither know nor care what show is playing. I remember an article about 30 years ago where the broadcasters freaked out, because an analysis of viewing patterns by the Nielsen Ratings people revealed that this was typical in a large number of households. The article dubbed it “talking lamp”. Noise in the background, but nobody really paying attention to the actual content, they were engaged in other activities. I never saw anything further about it. I presume the broadcasters did not want to know (did not want their advertisers to know) that a significant portion of their audience, wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/11 "2025-03-01T17:35:58Z")
> [@Dereknocue67](#): > > I have Tivo and it records the last 30 minutes of the channel it’s tuned to. If I want to watch news, I’ll rewind to the beginning, skip through commercials until I reach the next live TV commercial and then do something else. I’m at the point now when I seldom if ever, watch live TV. Me too. Live TV is simply unwatchable due to the commercials. Another fun thing to do on a Discovery Channel type show is skip through every bit of footage you’ve already seen. I find you can kill a 30-minute episode in about 8 minutes if you do that. While still seeing every frame once. > [@md-2000](#): > > I presume the broadcasters did not want to know (did not want their advertisers to know) that a significant portion of their audience, wasn’t. Agreed. OTOH, all the TVs being watched in bars & restaurants & … probably aren’t being monitored by Nielsen either. So there’s some offsetting audience there. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/12 "2025-03-01T17:55:25Z")
The description of “Couch Potato” (or if you’re of the female persuasion, “Couch Tomato”) comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/13 "2025-03-01T18:27:25Z")
I was just on a flight with live TV. I wanted to watch something but couldn’t avoid commercials. So I looked at what TCM was showing, as that would be commercial free. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/14 "2025-03-01T18:50:52Z")
We’ve started watching the British Antiques Roadshow on Roku, which pretty much runs 24/7. You can’t pause it, you can’t record it to skip commercials which we usually do. We have relearned the art of going to the bathroom during ad breaks, and it is a bit comforting not to have to think about recording and deleting. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-it-called-when-you-watch-what-s-on-tv-when-it-airs/1014950/15 "2025-03-01T18:51:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > OTOH, all the TVs being watched in bars & restaurants & … probably aren’t being monitored by Nielsen either. They are _definitely_ not being monitored by Nielsen, at least not with their electronic meters. Nielsen also does viewership diaries, especially during “sweeps” periods, when they do more detailed research, at a market level, with bigger sample sizes. It’s possible that Nielsen encourages people who are filling out the diaries to note what they are watching when they are outside the home…but if you’re at a bar, and there are a half-dozen TVs on, showing various sports, and are essentially those “talking lamps,” odds are that you aren’t actually watching those, anyway.