PAL was a format for recording video that was the standard in the United Kingdom, at least as late as the 1990s. Anji Kapoor once bought an American VCR, which used the NTSC standard, and thus could not play the tapes that she'd be sent from England. (PROSE: Escape Velocity)
Real world
Phase Alternating Line was a colour encoding system used in analogue television broadcasting. It was employed for the original domestic broadcasts of Doctor Who from 1970 until the end of the BBC's digital switchover. The term is also used, inaccurately, to describe material which conforms to the recording and distribution standards associated with the technique.