prime time

prime time
    n 1: the hours between 7 and 11 p.m. when the largest tv
         audience is available
    

prime time
 n.

   [from TV programming] Normal high-usage hours on a system or network.
   Back in the days of big timesharing machines `prime time' was when
   lots of people were competing for limited cycles, usually the day
   shift. Avoidance of prime time was traditionally given as a major
   reason for {night mode} hacking. The term fell into disuse during the
   early PC era, but has been revived to refer to times of day or evening
   at which the Internet tends to be heavily loaded, making Web access
   slow. The hackish tendency to late-night {hacking run}s has changed
   not a bit.
    

prime time

   (From TV programming) Normal high-usage hours on a
   {time-sharing} system; the day shift.  Avoidance of prime time
   was traditionally given as a major reason for {night mode}
   hacking.  The rise of the personal workstation has rendered
   this term, along with {time-sharing} itself, almost obsolete.
   The hackish tendency to late-night {hacking runs} has changed
   not a bit.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1995-01-18)