system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What happens when you see a tiny flash of one commercial, only to have it cut off by another commercial?

I always imagine the company didn't pay its advertising bill, so it gets yanked at the last minute. I'm *pretty sure* this isn't true. 

So ELI5?
gpt
It happens when you're watching a local affiliate of a national network, like ABC or NBC.

The network has satellite feeds (and their own nation-wide commercials) that the local affiliate is to switch over to at various times (like to Letterman or another late prime-time show at 11:30 after the local news). 

The local feed has its own commercials (for local advertisers), but the network feed always takes priority. So if the local broadcast runs over by a few seconds and there was supposed to be a local commercial immediately after, sometimes the cutover will cut off the end of the local programming.