I know what TV timeouts are, so please don’t tell me what I already know. Obviously the teams get to decide when their own timeouts are, but who decided when the TV timeouts are? The referees?
This goes for basketball, football, and any other sport that has them.
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There is a person standing on the sidelines, often called "The orange gloves guy" that signals to the referee when TV timeouts are to be taken. You may have seen this person before while watching a game.
The network broadcasting the game rents certain times to companies wanting to advertise. when the time comes they stop the game with a "tv timeout" and exit to commercial.
They are negotiated contractually between the leagues, and networks, so the network can sell more commercials.
The timing is usually chosen to not interfere with game play, when possible, so drives arent interupted, etc…. Kickoffs, etc… Depends on the sport though