In accordance with the present invention, commercials are provided to a subscriber at the start of or during their use of an interactive television application. Further in accordance with the invention, a subscriber may select to pay for use of the interactive television application by watching a specified amount of commercials in connection with use of the application. The subscriber can thereby reduce or avoid any additional payment for such services. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the subscriber is prompted to determine the payment method preferred by the subscriber payment method includes receiving commercials as an option in lieu of or in addition to traditional payment methods such as pay-per-view, pay-per-use pay-per-play and subscription based.