[unraveller]

If TV manufacturers actually cared about the consumers well being they would add one simple feature: A Mute Timeout button that also dimmed the screen expecting high contrast flashing ads, each press extends another 20 seconds or so - that would solve most of the ad issue. Too loud? tap tap tap... 1 min later it eases the audio-visual back up to normal.

This is 1950s tech yet we've never seen it, so much for competition spawning better innovation.