  If quasar jets are accelerated by magnetic fields but terminate as matter
dominated, where and how does the transition occur between the
Poynting-dominated and matter-dominated regimes? To address this question, we
study constraints which are imposed on the jet structure by observations at
different spatial scales. We demonstrate that observational data are consistent
with a scenario where the acceleration of a jet occurs within 10^{3-4} R_g. In
this picture, the non-thermal flares -- important defining attributes of the
blazar phenomenon - are produced by strong shocks formed in the region where
the jet inertia becomes dominated by matter. Such shocks may be formed due to
collisions between the portions of a jet accelerated to different velocities,
and the acceleration differentiation is very likely to be related to global MHD
instabilities.
