From Whatis.com:
Phase Alternation Line (PAL) is the analog television display standard that is used in Europe and certain other parts of the world. PAL is one of the three major TV standards together with the American National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) color television system and the French Sequential Couleur avec Memoire (SECAM). NTSC is also used in Japan. SECAM is used in countries of the former Soviet Union.
Like SECAM, PAL scans the cathode ray tube (CRT) horizontally 625 times to form the video image. NTSC scans 525 lines. Color definitions between the systems vary slightly.
I had to stop looking up Tick quotes to find that...