HAMBURG: Television commercials will soon be a thing of the past, according to a new study in Germany which warns TV networks to begin planning now for the “post-commercial age” of broadcasting.

The alarming study — alarming to commercial network executives, that is — asserts that flagging commercial revenues in Europe can only partially be blamed on the continent’s sluggish economy.

The commercial advertisers are not to blame, it’s the commercials themselves which are going the way of the dinosaurs, says the study.

What is happening, according to the study by Mercer Management Consulting Agency, amounts to a “creeping revolution” which eventually will sweep commercial breaks off the TV screen for good.

In their place will be commercial-free premium subscription channels, pay-per-view events, tele-shopping and interactive services.

Networks which depend solely on commercial advertising for their revenues “will find themselves sooner or later out on a very precarious limb”, say the analysts.

“Simply waiting for the current economic slump to end will not help networks which depend solely on commercial revenues,” the study says. By 2006 commercial revenues will likely be back up to levels of 2001,” it adds.

The digital revolution will pave the way for whole new generations of home equipment which will enable viewers to avoid ever having to see another commercial again.—dpa