| Craig Hingley of Huber & Suhner Canada has repeated one of the common myths of our time (Advertising needed for survivial of the Net, Letters, Jan. 24-30). He claimed that watching TV and listening to radio are free.
They are not. Commercial television and radio receive 100 per cent of their revenues from advertising, and who, I wonder, does Mr. Hingley think pays for advertising? We all do, of course, including watchers of TV and listeners to radio, every time we buy something. If you compare how much we pay for commercial TV and radio via advertising and how much we pay for CBC TV and radio via taxes, you will find that it's about five times as much.
Newspapers are similar. They receive 70 to 80 per cent of their revenues from advertising, so you may not read the Herald or the Sun, but when you go shopping, a few of those pennies you slide across the counter to the clerk are probably going to those papers.
There is no free lunch here, Mr. Hingley.
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