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Does Top Gear Have Commercials?

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cdrj5

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Aug 8, 2004
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I live in America so I am a little unsure of how Top Gear is presented. I just know that the show is exactly one hour long, and has no breaks or pauses in the action for commercials. Are the networks not private over there (as in does the government pay for them)?

That can't be right either though, because I know with some shows (for example 5th Gear), there is room for commercials (part 1 and then part 2). Could someone please let me in on how that works, I was just a little curious.

Thanks
 
Okay. Here goes with the explanation.
Top Gear is broadcast on the BBC, which is government owned and run, using what is called a TV License to pay for its costs, on a non-profit making basis. Therefore, no commercial breaks at all (or on any other BBC TV channel or radio station for that matter).
5th Gear, on the other hand, is shown on Channel 5, which like ITV and Channel 4 are 100% commercial-based stations, and therefore has commercial breaks as they make a living from the advertising.
Hope that makes things a little clearer!
 
Thanks for the explanation. I always wondered how that worked. Top Gear must cost a fortune for the government to run. They have to pay for the airport, for all of those used cars, caravans, and for the little things like when Richard spent 9,000 pounds on an hour long flight in a review. Plus, when the host can afford a 100,000 pound Ford GT you know that he isnt coming cheap either. The only thing that I can think of is that perhaps the tickets have to be bought, rather than given away for free as is customary here in America and probably on for profit networks over there.
 
They pay for it with a tax on TVs (I think) which I find nuts...

And I also find it weird that FG only has one commercial break. It must me long or something. Here in the States, a "1 hour" show is actually about 42 minutes long.
 
Isn't Jeremy also the writer/editor or something of that sort for 2 or 3 different magazines? I know he has an interesting resume, which Tiff completely demolishes, but Jeremy's more socialble it seems.
 
Here in the States, a "1 hour" show is actually about 42 minutes long.
Click to expand...

They broadcast Oprah shit here, What the fuck?! Every 5 minutes you get commercials...then she sais "blablabla" "we'll be right back"...
Is it really that bad in the States with all your programs?
 
Viper007Bond said:
They pay for it with a tax on TVs (I think) which I find nuts...
Click to expand...

as said aove, its called at tv licence... what it is, is a 1/2 yearly (compulsory) subscription. although it sounds crazy, i think its worth it...

espicially now that im living is australia, there are ads every five mins.

even the ads on channels 3, 4 and 5 have one set of ads every 15 mins, which is more tolerable
 
We have 3 channels wich are non commercial...so no commercials between the movies...those channels won't give you the best films, but anyway I hate those commercials in the middle of a movie
 
The bbc also sell loads of programs to other countries, have a huge amount of mercendise(kids shows :p ). They may be officialy non-profit, but that doesn't mean that they don't make a shit load of money.
 
even our government owned network (CBC) still has a shitload of ads. grrrr but then the american public broadcastor (PBS) has none (well sorta.... they have "this program sponsored by...")
 
Anyone who is interested in the way the BBC operate should check out this article from Wired magazine.

For those too lazy to read the article, the BBC is toying with the idea of releasing their entire archive as royalty free downloadable content. You would be able to download any program directly from the BBC and edit, distribute and duplicate it freely (non-commercially of course). They've gotten as far as releasing 3 minute clips of nature programs (link), but even that is pretty remarkable in terms of copyright conventions. If they put enough effort behind this, they could very well revolutionize modern copyright laws!

This is definetly proof that non-profit\government subsidized bodies are capable of subverting the conventional\conservative capatilist mold.
 
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