Get Rid of Cable TV Commercials Now!

It seems like all the television service providers have accepted the reality that most people just don’t like the long commercial breaks while watching their favorite TV shows.

To facilitate them, DirecTV introduces a technology for its viewers to automatically skip commercial breaks at a touch of the button if they record something on their DVR. CEO Mike White conducted a media conference on Monday and said that company obtained this technology five years ago from a company known as Replay TV, but has declined to roll out the functionality.

In a media event hosted by Reuters, he said “We haven’t chosen to use it. It’s not clear to me there’s a raging demand from consumers for it.” Although, he said the company would like to study user and legal reaction to the technology.

The same technology is being challenged in the court since last month, when major television networks filed a lawsuit against Dish to have allegedly transmitted the network’s program in a way that allows users to watch them without any commercial break. On the other hand, Dish claims it doesn’t violate any agreement because it does not alter the broadcast signal, as users have the facility to skip the ads and they are not deleted.

Dish introduced an Auto Hop feature last month, as part of a high-definition DVR called the Hopper, which uses commercial-skipping technology that is included in the device. When the device is turned on, it automatically skips all the advertising that has been recorded on TV shows that air over TV channels.  Up till now, Dish applied this technology to broadcast TV channels only.

According to broadcasters, this ad-skipping technology will eventually obliterate the industry since program owners get an increasing amount of revenue from these commercials which cover the cost of their shows.