Glossary of Media Terms

Hacker – A malicious person who breaks the security of computer systems in order to steal or destroy information.

Head-end – A cable TV facility for signal processing with electronic equipment used to receive and send signals. It is the equipment located at the starting point of the cable system and includes antenna, amplifier and scramblers.

Hertz – A unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second. A measure of electromagnetic frequency that represents the number of complete electrical waves in a second. One kiloHertz (kHz) is one thousand cycles per second; one megaHertz (mHz) is one million; one gigaHertz (gHz) is one billion. U.S VHF television stations are allocated on a band from 54 to 216 mHz.

High Definition Television (HDTV) – An all-digital TV broadcast signal that delivers a high-resolution, wide-screen picture and 6 channels of digital sound. A resolution of 1,080 lines is considered high definition imagery, although 720 lines of progressive scanning has now come to be considered high resolution as well.

Hits – The number of times a program or item of data has been accessed. For example, each time a user downloads a home page on the Web, that is considered one hit to that Web site. Hits also refer to the number of page and/or graphic files requested by visitors.

Home Page – The page that appears each time users start their Web browser. Users can choose any page on the Web as their home page.

Homes Passed – Households with the ability to receive a particular cable service, and which may opt to subscribe.

Host – A computer system that is accessed by a user working at a remote location. The computer system that contains the data is called the host, while the computer at which the user sits is called a remote terminal.

Household – An occupied housing unit. An individual or group of individuals occupying a house, apartment, group of rooms, or single room.

Households Using Television (HUT) – The percentage of all television households in a survey area with one or more sets in use during a specific time period. The sum of the average ratings for a given time period will sometimes be higher than the HUT number because of households viewing multiple programs at the same time. If a household is watching two programs, it is counted toward each program rating but only once toward a HUT number.

Housing Unit – Defined by the Census Bureau as a group of rooms, or a single room, that is occupied (or is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters. Housing units do not include institutions, barracks, dormitories, and other group quarters.

HTML – Abbreviation for Hyper Text Markup Language, the computer language used to create Web pages. It defines the page layout, fonts, graphics, and hyperlinks to other pages.

HTTP – Abbreviation for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what action Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands.

HUT – See Households Using Television.

Hypoing – Boosting audience levels by running a special program, blockbuster movies, or watch-and-win contests during sweeps; a practice designed to generate a higher than normal ratings.