Commercial broadcasting is the practice of broadcasting for profit. This is normally achieved by interrupting normal programming to air advertisements, also commonly called "commercials" in this context. This is the dominant type of broadcasting in the United States and a handful of other countries such as most of Latin America, but public broadcasting where programming is largely funded by government or public donations is more common elsewhere. In an hour of broadcast time on a commercial broadcast outlet, typically ten to twenty minutes are devoted to advertising. Advertisers pay a certain amount of money to air their commercials, usually based upon the popularity or ratings of a station or network. This effectively makes commercial broadcasters more answerable to advertisers than the public, which is a major criticism of commercial radio and television. Programming on commercial stations is often more sensationalistic—particularly during ratings periods such as sweeps in the U.S. Note: broadcasting is also the old term for hand sowing. ... Profit is defined as the residual value gained from business operations. ... Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ... A country, a land, or a state, is a geographical area that connotes an independent political entity, with its own government, administration, laws, often a constitution, police, military, tax rules, and population, who are one anothers countrymen. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... Public broadcasting (also known as public service broadcasting or PSB) is the dominant form of broadcasting around the world, where radio, television, and potentially other electronic media outlets receive funding from the public. ... Public is of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; opposed to private; as, the public treasury. ... A donation is to give a fund or cause or such donated gift usually for charitable reasons. ... Rating is a means of classifying things in different categories. ... A critic (derived from the ancient Greek word krites meaning a judge) is a person who offers a value judgement or an interpretation. ... Sensationalism is a manner of being extremely controversial, loud, attention-grabbing, or otherwise sensationalistic. ... In the United States the sweeps period determines local advertising rates. ...

Perhaps the best known commercial broadcasters are the venerable ABC, CBS and NBC, based in the United States. 2002 identity of the ABC Circle logo, designed by Paul Rand in 1962. ... CBSs first color logo, which debuted in the fall of 1965. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...