Commercials on Television

Simply, no and no. Stations pay for their news program from the commercials - except for PBS.

I don't know if that's true, but it sure seems like it. Commercial breaks can last as long as 5 minutes, then 11 minutes of show, then commercials for the next three. I haven't actually done any serious research on this, but occasionally I use a stopwatch and time the programs just to make sure I'm not imagining the commercial breaks are overly long and frequent.

Every so often I forget what I'm watching because the commercial breaks are so long. I try to remember to record the shows I want to watch so I can fast forward thru the commercials.

Recording a show you want to watch is the best way to overcome commercialitis.
Also, many shows will have long commercials just before the end of a story. They think you're already hooked and will watch the commercial too. I got news for them.....