This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Every month, I look at my cable TV bill and have a kind of mini-coronary.

Granted, I could lose some weight, get more exercise and eat more broccoli instead of Doritos in front of the TV. But looking at that Comcast bill at the end of every billing period is akin to having a knitting needle dipped in frog poison and jabbed into my heart.

It's more than $100 per month, which I'm convinced could feed a Nigerian kid for 2 1/2 years.

OK, at the risk of looking like a selfish, self-centered, insensitive yahoo who values watching "The Daily Show" on cable over feeding starving Nigerian kids, I just want to say that's too much to pay for television.

But it's what I'm willing to endure so I invite such quality programming as "The Sopranos," "Band of Brothers" or "The Simple Life" into my home. (In the interest of full disclosure, my newspaper pays for my cable bill, but I'm still acting upset on behalf of all disgruntled TV subscribers, so just stay with me here.)

What Comcast has started to do in the last couple of weeks is not something I asked for, and it's the beginning of a new trend of generating money for media conglomerates that we should all rise up against. So get those torches ready, people.

I'm talking about putting banner ads on our on-screen television guides. It's a tactic that has been toyed with by other satellite and cable companies as well as the granddaddy of all digital video recorders, TiVo.

(Granted, it's not the most earth-shattering problem known to humankind, but just stay with me.)

Since most TV viewers get their programming through cable or satellite, they change the channels by calling up the on-screen TV guide grid, surf through the schedule and click on the program they want to watch.

What used to be an ad-free, untainted screen is now a billboard for HBO boxing specials and plugs for Comcast cable services we already know about.

That's a reality we all face, from subway stations to sporting events. The difference here is we already pay exorbitant prices - and ever-rising rates - for television.

Not only are the ads obtrusive and annoying, but they also make navigating through the TV guide more difficult. With the ads taking up space at the bottom, you now have to click more often to go from page to page on the guide, and there are fewer grids at the same time on one page.

A Comcast representative told me he doesn't know how long these ad banners will last or why they were started up in the first place (it seems it was a corporate decision in Philadelphia), but I know it's an irritating and unnecessary move.

Already, networks are trying to figure out how to push more ads in front of viewers' eyeballs now that technologies like TiVo and other digital recorders allow us to fast-forward past commercials.

To combat that, TiVo once put ad banners on the screen while viewers fast-forwarded a program. Networks, meanwhile, are starting to use more product placement in their television shows - for example, having Dr. McDreamy eat from a bowl of Cheerios or making sure that the "American Idol" judges' Coca Cola cups are prominently displayed on their table.

It's already such a big part of corporate culture to be bombarded with ads during every waking minute of our day. But when we already pay for something, aren't we doing so to avoid more ads?

Somebody needs to tell Comcast that so I can worry about more important things - like feeding Nigerian kids.