Abstract: Television program guides are equipped with advertisements and “pseudo-ads.” Pseudo-ads generally include non-advertising subject matter such as games, weather information, celebrity interviews, etc. Pseudo-ads are mixed in with regular advertisements as they are displayed. In one embodiment of the invention, viewers may customize the display of advertising information using buttons on a remote control or set-top box to display desired regular advertisements or pseudo-ads. Both regular and pseudo-ads may be selected to obtain additional information or to initiate associated actions. These and other aspects of the invention help to maintain the viewer's interest in the program guide, and allow more advertisements to be viewed.