The problem is you're much less likely to engage with or take notice of a five minute ad at the beginning of a show, you'll get up and make a cup of tea or browse HN in the background while you wait. There's also not much an advertiser can say in five minutes that they can't say in 30 seconds.

When shows are set up for commercials, it makes it a lot better. Leaving for a few minutes on a cliffhanger builds suspense. It's quite jarring when a show designed around commercials suddenly has none (like on DVD). You see a cliffhanger come up, it fades to black for one second, then it's right back with the resolution. At that point, the resolution isn't as satisfying since you didn't have to wait for it.

What seems "intrusive as hell" is the attitude that these guys bend over backwards to give you a better experience than Cable TV and you still complain about it.

So you want everything you want, when you want it, for free? I'll buy you a train ticket to reality so you can join the rest of us.