← Return to the worked example
Agency orders, rate cards & separation
Learn what was sold, what should play and which neighbors are allowed.
A proposal becomes an accepted order
The fictional agency represents Front Range Motors. Order EBN-1001 identifies one 30-second placement in each of four Harbor Street episodes. Sales confirms available inventory and the agreed terms; order entry records the buyer, advertiser, product category, billing party, flight, units, rate basis, guarantee and restrictions. Copy instructions supply the creative IDs, rotation and valid dates afterward.
Rate card, negotiated rate and billable amount
The teaching rate card lists $12,500 per 30 seconds; the accepted deal is $10,000 net. Four units therefore total $40,000. The invoice uses the accepted price. Rates can vary with inventory, program, length, restrictions and deal terms; this exercise does not publish actual network prices.
Always label gross versus net. If a separate hypothetical deal specifies a $10,000 commissionable gross amount and 15% commission, the net is $8,500. That is a different pricing basis from our $10,000-net order. Do not subtract a commission again from a rate already agreed as net. Any tax, fee or commission rule must come from the actual agreement.
Advertiser versus product/category protection
These are explicit fictional placement rules, not a universal separation interval. One advertiser per break protects against repeated advertiser exposure. One AUTO advertiser per break protects competing automobile products even when they have different owners.
| Pair in one break | Conflict | Sample result |
|---|---|---|
| Front Range Motors car + Front Range Motors SUV | Same advertiser | Reject |
| Front Range Motors + Rival Motors | Competing AUTO category | Reject |
| Front Range Motors + Example Bank | Different advertiser and category | Pass under example rules |
| Two unrelated clients of Example Agency | Agency alone is not advertiser identity | Review the actual order / policy |
Store advertiser identity, parent-company grouping if required, product/category codes, protection scope and approved exceptions. Software category codes do not replace the agreed business rule. Our Log Generator requires manual review for these constraints.
Order revisions follow the same chain
Moving a unit, changing a creative or accepting a makegood updates different records. Keep the order amendment, traffic-instruction revision, scheduled event, returned event, delivery decision and invoice reference linked. In the example, an obsolete creative cannot be fixed by renaming it in the returned file.
Return to the agency-order chapter →Sources & scope
- WideOrbit: cable and broadcast network workflows ↗
- Disney linear advertising terms, dated April 30, 2021 ↗
- TVB: broadcast and media glossary ↗
Sources checked October 22, 2026. Vendor materials describe their own systems. Published contract examples are illustrative, dated and not universal terms. All Harbor Street records and policies are fictional.