A television timeout is a break in a televised live event to allow television advertisement

Television advertisement

A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...

s to be shown. This has the advantage of allowing the networks to take an advertising break without causing viewers to miss part of the action.

Programs making use of timeouts are usually live-action sporting events. However, other live programs occasionally make use of timeouts for advertising purposes, such as the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

.

Use by sport

• American football
  American football
  American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
  
  : The National Football League (NFL)
  National Football League
  The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
  
   requires that its games have twenty commercial breaks, with ten in each half (an exception is the overtime period which has none). These intervals run either one or two minute
  Minute
  A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units...
  
  s in length. Of the ten per half, two are mandatory (the end of the quarter and the two-minute warning
  Two-minute warning
  In the National Football League, the two-minute warning is given when two minutes of game time remain on the game clock in each half of a game, i.e. near the end of the second and fourth quarters. There is an additional two-minute warning in the rare event only two minutes remain in an overtime...
  
  ) and the remaining eight are optional. Such timeouts can be applied after field goal
  Field goal (football)
  A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...
  
   tries, conversion attempts for both one
  Convert
  The convert or try, in American football known as "point after", and Canadian football "Point after touchdown", is a one-scrimmage down played immediately after a touchdown during which the scoring team is allowed to attempt to score an extra one point by kicking the ball through the uprights , or...
  
   and two
  Two-point conversion
  In American and Canadian football, a two-point conversion is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point convert immediately after it scores a touchdown...
  
   points following touchdown
  Touchdown
  A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
  
  s, changes in possession either by punts
  Punt (football)
  In some codes of football, a punt is a play in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it touches the ground. A punt is in contrast to a drop kick, in which the ball touches the ground before being kicked....
  
   or turnovers
  Turnover (football)
  In American football, a turnover occurs when the team with the ball loses possession of the ball, which is then gained by the other team. The two events that are officially classified as "turnovers" are fumbles or interceptions In American football, a turnover occurs when the team with the ball...
  
  , and kickoffs
  Kickoff (American football)
  A kickoff is a method of starting a drive in American football and Canadian football. Typically, a kickoff consists of one team – the "kicking team" – kicking the ball to the opposing team – the "receiving team"...
  
   with the exception of the ones that start each half or are within the last five minutes of such. They are also called during stoppages due to injury, instant replay challenges, when either of the participating teams uses one of its set of timeouts, and if the network needs to catch up on its commercial advertisement schedule. The arrangement for college football
  College football
  College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
  
   contests is similar, except for the absence of the two-minute warning.
• Australian rules football
  Australian rules football
  Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
  
  : after a goal has been scored, before the umpire
  Umpire (Australian rules football)
  An umpire is an official in the sport of Australian rules football.-Origins:Unlike many other codes of football, where the official is called a referee, in Australian Football, the officials borrow their title from the game of cricket, which is played on the same types of fields and was an...
  
   bounces the ball in the centre square to restart play. There is no TV timeout after a behind is scored.
• Baseball
  Baseball
  Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
  
  : at the end of a half-inning
  Inning
  Inning is a municipality in the district of Erding in Bavaria in Germany....
  
  ; and sometimes during a pitching change.
• Bowling
  Bowling
  Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
  
  : Varies.
• College basketball
  College basketball
  College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
  
  : at the first dead ball
  Dead ball
  Dead ball is a phenomenon in many sports in which the ball is deemed temporarily not playable, and no movement may be made with it or the players from their respective positions of significance...
  
   after 4 minute intervals (beyond the 16:00, 12:00, 8:00 and 4:00 minute mark of each half). Additionally, the first 30-second team timeout in the second half is expanded to a television timeout. Previously in College Basketball a timeout could not take place before free throws were shot but they had to be shot first. If second one was missed then play would continue. However, if free throws are to be shot, the timeout is taken first. Akin to not being allowed to ice the shooter on a media timeout. Something teams do frequently during a close game when shooter is on the line.
• Cricket
  Cricket
  Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
  
  : Generally at the end of some overs as the field switches around, when a wicket
  Wicket
  In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
  
   falls, during drinks breaks and during intervals.
• Curling
  Curling
  Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
  
  : at the conclusion of each end. The game generally resumes before the commercial break ends, so when the broadcast comes back on a few rocks will have already been thrown.
• NHL: during stoppages of play, at the discretion of the TV timeout coordinator and typically after passing the following marks of each period (Less than 14:00, Less than 10:00 and Less than 6:00 minutes) in each period. One of the linesmen
  Official (ice hockey)
  In ice hockey, an official is a person who has some responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. There are two categories of officials, on-ice officials, who are the referees and linesmen that enforce the rules during game play, and off-ice officials, who have an...
  
   wears a pager that alerts him when a TV timeout should be taken. TV timeout do not take place while a team is shorthanded due to penalties, it would then occur after the first whistle following the team's return to full strength, they do on occasion take place prior to the power play beginning. Timeouts also do not occur immediately after a goal or after an Icing infraction. TV timeouts are rarely, if ever, taken during overtime
  Overtime (ice hockey)
  Overtime is a method of determining the winner and loser of an ice hockey match when the scores are tied after regulation. The two main methods are the overtime period and the shootout.-Overtime periods:...
  
  .
• NBA: at the first dead ball after 6:00 and 3:00 in each quarter. First TV timeout is charged to the home team and second TV timeout is charged to the away team, assuming no other timeouts have been called (those would then replace the mandatory TV timeouts). In addition, a timeout at 9:00 in the second and fourth quarter charged to neither team.
• Tennis
  Tennis
  Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
  
  : during the break after odd-numbered games when players change ends.