We had a good deal going. We just had to watch their stupid commercials and they entertained us for free. It worked for 50 years. Then we got cool and bought a way to beat the system and bragged to our friends how we didn't ever have to watch commercials anymore.
Next the networks will get tired of losing advertising money and they will stop the free programming. That's what's known as killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
When the commercials used to be 2 minutes every 15 minutes, it was tolerable. Now they will put them in every 7 or 8 minutes in the middles of scenes sometimes, totally affecting the flow of a movie. Sometimes the commercials last for over 5 minutes.
I gave up watching any TV other than VHS or DVD 5 years ago.
There is plenty of blame to go around, they are seemingly doing everything they can to drive us away
Desperate Housewives is an hour long show on Sunday nights. Only half in jest I tell my wife that it's the best 22 minutes of TV on the air.
Not content with just many more commercials, they are making full use of technology that allows them to put teasers and commercials along the bottom of our screens while the show we are watching is still showing.
Then of course the old standby, the commercials are about 20 decibels louder to the human ear than the show we are watching.