# Curious about TV advertising in Europe



## GeorgiaXplant (Aug 11, 2014)

Years ago when I lived in Germany, commercials were on only twice a day for about 30 minutes or so and included short little segments of Mainzelmenschen for kids. The TV programs themselves ran start-to-finish without being interrupted. A program that would run for an hour in the US lasted about 40 minutes...would you believe that much time taken up by advertising?!

I don't remember anything about how/when commercials were aired in the UK.

Is it still that way in Germany? How are commercials aired in the UK?


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## hollydolly (Aug 11, 2014)

All our tv channels in the UK are commercial channels except for  BBC channels where there are no adverts at all, so you get to see an hour long programme without any disruptions but for this we have to pay an annual licence fee of £145 approx $245. You cannot refuse to pay the licence fee, even if you only ever watch commercial TV, it;s against the law and you can be jailed...seriously!

Commercial TV began in this country in 1955.

  Commercials are a pain in the butt, for every 30 minute programme there will be one break for adverts which last around 4 minutes...some programmes abuse the system and allow up to 4 ad breaks in one hour but otherwise it's the same as the US, an hour long programme has only 40 mins viewing time 

I record almost everything I watch so I can fast forward straight through the commercials


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## GeorgiaXplant (Aug 11, 2014)

Our public television channels are free. They're supported by grants from various corporations and individuals, donations solicited twice a year in April and October via live programming and lots of email and snail-mail requests. There's no advertising, but they do mention which corporations/individuals support or sponsor a particular program.


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## Bee (Aug 16, 2014)

hollydolly said:


> All our tv channels in the UK are commercial channels except for  BBC channels where there are no adverts at all, so you get to see an hour long programme without any disruptions but for this we have to pay an annual licence fee of £145 approx $245. You cannot refuse to pay the licence fee, even if you only ever watch commercial TV, it;s against the law and you can be jailed...seriously!
> 
> Commercial TV began in this country in 1955.
> 
> ...



Agreed the commercial breaks can be a nuisance but I use them for toilet breaks or a cigarette break.:bigwink:


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## Falcon (Aug 16, 2014)

Same here Bee.  And also there's the MUTE  button.


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## oakapple (Aug 17, 2014)

Yes, I often hit the mute button, thinking of getting my husband kitted out with one too!


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## Meanderer (Aug 17, 2014)




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## oakapple (Aug 18, 2014)

Aw, how sweet!


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