This totally infuriates me & rather than just link I have chosen to cut & paste the following article:
TV networks free to air unlimited ads
Old limits of 15 minutes per hour no longer apply
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 2, 2009 4:03 AM
Television viewers in Canada now get to pay a little bit more and might have to view more advertising courtesy of new cable and broadcasting rules that came into effect Tuesday.
Conventional television broadcasters are free as of Tuesday to air as many advertisements as they wish, up from a maximum of 15 minutes per hour under the old system that died on Aug. 31. And beginning on their September bills, cable customers will start to see a new line on their monthly invoice amounting to a 1.5 per cent increase.
For Bell TV customers, this translates into about $1. The hike for Rogers customers will vary depending on their cable package, but will come in at less than $1.
The additional cash will go into the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), created by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and funded by cable and satellite companies. The CRTC initially set the contribution at one per cent of their gross broadcasting revenues, but increased it recently by a half percentage point for the new broadcasting year.
These new charges passed on to consumers could be a prelude to even higher monthly bills. Hearings begin later this year over a system of payments known as fee-for-carriage, which would allow the country's largest TV networks to charge cable and satellite companies for signals.
In the meantime, Canada's conventional television networks -- CBC, CTV and Global -- have a new stream of revenue open to them. After increasing the number of minutes the country's big broadcasters could air in an hour from 12 in 2006 to 15 in 2008, the CRTC lifted the cap altogether beginning on Sept. 1, 2009.
Mirko Bibic, Bell Canada's head of regulatory and government affairs, said he has no doubt the broadcasters will come out the winners now that restrictions on advertising time limits have been removed.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
2 comments:
Oh, good God. Just what we all need.
I wonder if my satellite provided is affected?
Hi WC,
Yes, it will be affected. The rate increase is right across the board, unfortunately. The amt. isn't all that high, around $1 a month, a little less a little more depending on your provider, but I think that's just the beginning. And along with more ads it just makes me want to puke.
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