I would say that a TV IS a continous load in this application.
Virtualy certain to be on throughout the working day, much longer than 3 hours. The loading of most modern TVs varies only very slightly by programe content and can IMHO be regarded as continous.
It would therefore seem to me that if the outlets are out of easy reach and unlikely to be used for anything else, then the circuits could be designed for up to but not exceeding, 16 amps on a 20 amp circuit.
It would however IMHO be a better design to limit the number of TV sets per circuit to a much lower value than that. Consider firstly the inrush current after a brief power failure, and secondly the loss of trade or reputation if a fault in one TV trips the breaker and puts many others out.
Better to have few per circuit in that cases.
Put a motor driven appliance(s) on similar circuit and you may have just as much or even more inrush current. That is a design factor that may not come up until after original install IMO.
I thought we were beyond caring and into /i beating_dead_horse.avi /i
I agree the load can be expected to run more than three hours and in a commercial setting, someone will come along and plug a shop vac into it. The assumption (in the future, by the user) will be that the receptacle will take a 15 amp load. The NEC allows leniency in this assumption for multiple outlets on the same circuit. Most users will assume they can load the circuit up to the point the breaker trips.
Same thing happens with track light in retail when the manager decides he needs more light, they can make the thing look like a Christmas tree.
If this were a bar with a lot of TV's ... that vacuum very well could be plugged in to that circuit, it also very well may be after hours and the TV's are not running.
They could also plug the same vacuum into some other outlet and overload that circuit that doesn't necessarily have outlets dedicated to specific equipment. Overload protection is kind of the number one feature of the breaker, users will learn what they can not plug in, or if they feel they must use an item in a particular place that trips when doing so maybe they finally call an electrician to make it so they can do what they wish - and hopefully he is competent enough to install additional circuits and not just increase the breaker size.
It's not possible for a TV to be continuous load by the definition in Article 100:
Continuous Load. A load where the maximum current is
expected to continue for 3 hours or more.
Is a motor that is not considered fully loaded still considered a continuous load then?
How about lighting on a dimmer switch?
Maybe that definition needs some tweaking.