--- description: Cable TV networks are using compression technology to literally speed up television shows and movies to make more commercial space. title: How Cable Networks Are Cramming More Ads in Your Favorite Shows image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf41090fe25504f09/69877fb3428a9e2f79cc72f8/television.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Cable Networks Are Cramming More Ads in Your Favorite Shows ## Video: Should You Cut the Cord on Cable? [Watch (HLS stream): Should You Cut the Cord on Cable?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pqmHwOaI.m3u8) (3:38)  _Published 2015-02-05. MONEY's Jake Davidson and Taylor Tepper debate whether paying for cable television is still worthwhile._  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 19, 2015 3:17 PM CUT  Rear view of a couple watching tv Rear view of a couple watching tvGetty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 19, 2015 3:17 PM CUT Cable TV networks have found a new way to stuff more commercials into reruns of old TV shows and movies without extending the run time: they’re literally speeding them up. Networks TBS and TNT have used compression technology to shorten programming, [the Wall Street _Journal_ reports](http://www.wsj.com/articles/cable-tv-shows-are-sped-up-to-squeeze-in-more-ads-1424301320 "undefined"). TBS has sped up crowd pleasers from _Seinfeld_ reruns to the movie _The Wizard of Oz_, and TNT has done the same with _Friends_. The most discernible impact on the viewer is that the characters’ voices are a notch higher. _Friends_ co-creator Marta Kauffman said of the practice: ““It feels wrong. It is not how it was shot, written or imagined. It wasn’t meant to be that way, so don’t make it that way.” But the networks are trying to offset shrinking ad revenue. “It is a way to keep the revenue from going down as much as the ratings,” one top executive at a major cable programmer told the _WSJ_. “The only way we can do it is to double down and stretch the unit load a little more.” [According to Nielsen](http://www.wsj.com/articles/cable-tv-shows-are-sped-up-to-squeeze-in-more-ads-1424301320 "undefined"), the average commercial time on cable TV per hour has increased to 15.8 minutes in 2014 from 14.5 minutes five years ago, with networks such as MTV, TV Land and Spike now containing over 20 minutes of non-programming content an hour. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3714825/cable-tv-ads/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3714825/cable-tv-ads/"},"headline":"How Cable Networks Are Cramming More Ads in Your Favorite Shows","datePublished":"2015-02-19T15:17:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:32:35.910Z","description":"Here's why Kramer, Jerry and George might sound as if they've been inhaling helium","url":"https://time.com/3714825/cable-tv-ads/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf41090fe25504f09/69877fb3428a9e2f79cc72f8/television.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf41090fe25504f09/69877fb3428a9e2f79cc72f8/television.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"television","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3714825/cable-tv-ads/","name":"How Cable Networks Are Cramming More Ads in Your Favorite Shows"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Should You Cut the Cord on Cable?","description":"MONEY's Jake Davidson and Taylor Tepper debate whether paying for cable television is still worthwhile.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/pqmHwOaI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-05T23:40:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pqmHwOaI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3714825/cable-tv-ads/","duration":"PT3M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3714825/cable-tv-ads/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```