What happens if a TV commercial bombs out before it's ended?

Hey, Matt:

What happens when a TV commercial starts and then gets blipped off after only a few seconds of running? Do companies monitor the programming to make sure the commercials they've paid for actually get run? And what happens when they get short changed?

-- Squeek, in front of the tube

Because commercial time can cost anywhere from $2000 a second on the low end to, well, whatever the TV station can yank out of an advertiser's wallet, commercials are monitored in various ways. If an ad explodes before it's over, the advertiser gets what's known as a make-good. The station finds another spot in which to rerun the commercial at no charge. So don't worry, Squeek. TV is a letdown in so many ways, but we'll always get our full ration of advertising.