This is in contrast to public broadcasting, which receives government subsidies and usually does not have paid advertising interrupting the show.
This is also the case for the portions of the two major satellite radio systems that are produced in-house (mainly music programming).
When problems arose over patents and corporate marketing strategies, regulatory decisions were made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to control commercial broadcasting.
The FCC's interest in program control began with the chain-broadcasting investigation of the late 1930s, culminating in the "Blue Book" of 1946, Public Service Responsibility For Broadcast Licensees.
"The US commercial system resulted from a carefully crafted cooperation endeavor by national corporations and federal regulators.
Advertisers pay a certain amount of money to air their commercials, usually based upon program ratings or the audience measurement of a station or network.