> Do you Yanks really have to sit through 10 minutes of adverts (or 30 > minutes of pledge wheedling) in the middle of Dr. Who? :-/ No, we sit through twelve minutes per hour (or rather I *would* if I didn't have TiVo), and as for "pledge wheedling," I have no idea what that means, so I'll go with, "Maybe we do." :) Now I see. I was imagining paying this fee for American TV and I was boggled. I didn't realize that your broadcast television programs were advertisement-free. That seems a decent value, then. > Probably that is the real source of disbelief from the OP, that they > sneak around spying on your television, rather than that we pay for the > BBC, right? Sadly, no. Not at all. I live in the USA. I'm no longer surprised by ridiculous government intrusions into citizens' private lives. (Don't worry, I remain appalled.)