Currently TV Commercials in the UK shown on terrestial tv are limited to 7 minutes per hour. However it seems that on Sky and others they may be up to 12 mins provided the daily average is only 7 mins.

There is now a government enquiry to look into reducing this 12 mins to 7 mins on the grounds that there is too much advertising.

What on earth is that to do with government? At a time when every internet site is bombarded with on line advertising , the streets are covered with billboards and now we have product placement in programmes why would this be something to waste time and energy on discussing. Its up to the consumer to decide. If they dont like watching ads then they will vote with their feet and in any case with the ability to fast forward through ads on recorded programmmes its easy to avoid them anyway.

How ridiculous it is for the nanny do gooders to tell us what we should or should not watch. Personally I hate adverts breaking up programmes so I use time shift and fast forward wherever possible but that is my choice and I dont see why others should dictate what I watch and when. It is more than likely that sponsored programmes will become more and more the norm anyway over time but that should be the choice of the operators and not some government committee. So I am not trying to defend the revenue models of Sky but simply to defend our right as consumers to be free from interference in what is supposed to be this new big society where the role of the State is intended to be reduced and we , the people become responsible for our own actions again.