We all used to be annoyed by commercials. Thanks to the wonders of
DVR, we’re now just annoyed by the need to fast-forward through
commercials, and then maybe also rewind for a few seconds if we go too
far, and thus still be forced to experience the last few annoying
milliseconds of that Zooey Deschanel iPhone ad. But what if there were a
way to eliminate advertisements from your TV-watching experience?
That’s the pitch behind a new DVR feature released last week for Dish
Network subscribers called “the Auto-Hop,” which replaces commercial
breaks with a few pregnant moments of black screen.
According to the Wall Street Journal,
the feature is part of a larger system called “The Hopper” — which is
available for an extra $10 to Dish subscribers — and it’s already
proving controversial.
