Commercial-Free TV with the Hopper

This radio ad claims that the Hopper, a DVR from DISH, allows you to watch TV commercial free.

Says the ad: “Did you hear with the Hopper from DISH, you can watch commercial-free TV? No more commercials!” It also says that DISH users can “instantly skip commercials.”

Ahh, but the incomprehensible, fast-talking voice at the end explains what commercial-free TV really means. Here’s the end of the commercial, slowed down in TINA.org’s advanced super-voice slower-downer 5000:

Here’s what the fine print says: “Commercial-skip feature only available for playback the next day of select prime-time shows and must be enabled by customer.”

So “commercial-free TV” really means “commercial free, if you record a prime-time show, watch it the next day, it’s the right prime-time show, and you remembered to turn on the commercial-skip feature.” Is that really commercial-free TV? Think about it before grabbing the Hopper and expecting “no more commercials.”