I know that television stations get their money that way, yet a number of channels that you pay for just inundate their viewers with commercials.
Take the SciFi channel as an example. When they take a commercial break, it could be a good 5 to 10 minutes before they return to the program you were watching. Indeed, feature-length movies have longer commercial runs than half-hour and hour-long series. Yet, you only get SciFi channel if you subscibe to it, it's certainly not broadcast for free.
Going back some 20 years, I recall a time when free channels would run their commercials and often limit the length of time to just 2 minutes. Hardly enough time for a bathroom break. So, what gives?
2007-03-06 02:43:22 · 7 answers · asked by Wee Bit Naughty 3 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Television
Commercials are just as long on VH1. The only thing I can suggest is a DVR. Fast forward through all of those commercials! I have one and rarely view commercials any longer.
2007-03-06 02:48:01 · answer #1 · answered by Strawberryblonde 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
When you pay for some cable channels, you're actually paying for a bundle and not the individual channel so they may only get a small percentage of the fees taken in. So, they still need to sell airtime to make money. And because cable airs shows with much more production value, their programming is probably a little more expensive to produce than the crap on network TV, they have to sell far more airtime to advertisers.
I agree that there are far too many commercials, especially on cable TV. They should all start doing like the movies (and The Apprentice) and use product placement in their shows to recoup advertising dollars.
2007-03-06 12:25:00 · answer #2 · answered by Survivors Ready? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Basically its financial....they sell more commercial time instead of raising the cost of the time...(althought ey do that too). That is why when you watch older shows (from the 70's and early 80's) you notice missing bits....there is an average of 5 extra minutes of commercial time per half hour now than there was back in the 70's and 80's.
2007-03-07 04:54:00 · answer #3 · answered by kveldulf_gondlir 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the average 60 minute TV show is about 42 minutes long without commercials... so that means there are around 15 minutes of commercials... an average show as about 4 or 5 commercial breaks in an hour.. ...
I think it seems like more because we have so many ways of watching TV shows without commercials, (like taping a show and fast forwarding through them or renting the TV series etc).. that when we do watch a show with commercials it seems like a lot...
2007-03-06 11:00:55 · answer #4 · answered by Kookie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
DVR baby. With the exception of the Superbowl, I haven't watched a commercial in the last year. Best investment EVER.
2007-03-06 10:55:18 · answer #5 · answered by Kris B 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
more commericials means more revenue for stations. that's why i use netflix so i can see movies on my own terms without commercials..
2007-03-06 10:48:23 · answer #6 · answered by dco 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
because they pay for the programming
2007-03-06 18:27:23 · answer #7 · answered by Nora G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋