The TV show Shark Tank wanted to feature me and my company http://www.AwesomenessReminders.com. However, in addition to whatever the "shark" investors on the show demanded, ABC/Mark Burnett Productions wanted 2% equity in my company or 5% of annual profits (their choice, to be exercised whenever) in exchange for featuring me on ABC. I declined.
(I spoke with the guys from another company featured on the show; they said traffic doubled with the on-air mention, and then reverted to normal the next day. Totally not worth it...)
It's almost never worth paying for this kind of television. Both at VA Linux and every company I've worked at since has had bottom feeders trying to get us to buy access to such gems as 'buntings window' for ridiculous sums of money.
You're always better off just buying text ads. (disclaimer: work at google, loves text ads)
(I spoke with the guys from another company featured on the show; they said traffic doubled with the on-air mention, and then reverted to normal the next day. Totally not worth it...)