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Canadian TV ad limit to be abolished

The Canadian Radio Television Commission will remove limits on the amount of advertising that conventional TV stations can broadcast during prime time (7pm-11pm).

  • The current limit is 12 minutes of advertising per hour.
  • It will rise to 14 minutes on September 1.
  • It will rise to 15 minutes on September 1 next year.
  • There will be no limit, beginning September 1, 2009.

The CRTC also announced yesterday that it would not approve a proposal by conventional TV broadcasters for a user fee payable by TV viewers who get their signals via cable or satellite.

The networks had said they needed the additional revenue to make up for loss of advertising due to audience fragmentation, and to offset the cost of upgrading their systems to HDTV – a change that must be completed by August 31, 2011.

Here’s the CRTC announcement. Details and discussion at Canadian Journalist.