Newspaper group assigned period (4,4)

I believe the answer is:

time slot

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'assigned period' is the definition.
'time slot' can be an answer for 'period' (time slot is a kind of period). I'm not sure about the 'assigned' bit.

'newspaper group' is the wordplay.
'newspaper' becomes 'times' (The Times is an example).
'group' becomes 'lot'.
'times'+'lot'='TIME SLOT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for time slot that I've seen before include "Schedule period allocated to programme" , "It can be scheduled" , "limited period" , "Specified interval" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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