The present study focussed on the television performance of professional presenters. The first aim was to explore the association between television context and speech. The second aim was to examine television performance as interaction between presenter and viewer. Verbal and nonverbal communication in presenters' on-screen performances was analyzed using qualitative observation. The 190 presenters were professionals appearing in non-fiction programs of varying types. The material consisted of 116 programs. Televisual performance was described from four different perspectives: fact, specificity, generality and norm. The variation of forms, their generality and specificity, and the norms of behaviour showed that using the construct televisual performance is justified, because there were features of performance characteristic of the television context. Contextual elements such as speech culture, media logic, television, program type, speech situation and role of performer were observed to affect television performance. These elements had hierarchical interrelationships. Additionally, performance function explained the characteristics of television performance. A grammar of televisual performance could not be established with the aid of an analysis based on structural grammar or media logic. The communication styles of presenters are also discussed. Television performance as interaction was examined by applying interpersonal communication theories to the television context and by developing an interaction model. The analysis demonstrated that although television performance is not genuine interaction, it can be studied as such from a theoretical point of view.