ITV and Channel 4 are reported to be lobbying for longer ad breaks as they aim to claw back declining revenues.
According to The Times, a number of public service broadcasters are in talks with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to lift the current cap of seven-minute ad breaks per hour, which rises to eight minutes for prime-time TV.
Other commercial broadcasters are allowed to show nine minutes of ads, according to Ofcom rules.
ITV and Channel 4 are both under a lot of pressure from online streaming platforms including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Last month ITV reported that total revenues dropped 5% in the first half of 2019. The broadcaster announced plans to run two Love Island shows next year after pulling in better-than-expected revenues.
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