New DVR Wipes Out Ads

Commercial-free prime-time shows—the Holy Grail of TV watchers—has come to Dish Network. And it's likely to wreak holy havoc.

On May 10, the satellite-TV operator began offering its customers a DVR feature that allows viewers to completely avoid commercials—rather than just fast-forward through ads, as the old model digital-video recorders do. The new "Auto Hop" feature comes on a DVR dubbed the "Hopper," a device that has been available to subscribers since March. With Auto Hop, viewers see a black screen momentarily where the ads were broadcast, or a glimpse of the first frame of the first commercial. Then the show resumes. Consumers merely have to click an on-screen Auto Hop button before a show to enable the feature. The "Hopper" DVR costs Dish subscribers $10 a month in addition to a $99 upfront fee. Dish also offers a less-expensive traditional DVR with no upfront charge and a $6 monthly fee. The "Hopper" is made by Echostar, which like Dish is controlled by satellite-TV pioneer Charlie Ergen. The feature is available on recordings of nationally broadcast prime-time programs aired on Walt Disney's ABC, CBS Corp's CBS, News Corp.'s Fox and Comcast Corp's NBC but watched after 1 a.m. the day after they air. Dish is the third biggest pay-TV distributor, with more than 14 million subscribers, trailing Comcast and DirecTV.