Madeline Gearheart | December 5, 2024

Skip Commercials with DISH Hopper AutoHop

You know how it feels to be caught up in a favorite television show, only to have a dramatic moment ruined by a corny commercial? It’s exasperating, to say the least. Time seems to slow down with each boring insurance monologue or small-print medical ad, and you may start asking, “How long are TV commercials, anyway?” They may not be as long as they feel, but they do take up a fourth of your viewing time, with the average hour-long program airing 14 to 16 minutes of commercials.

In an attempt to eliminate commercials, many viewers are ditching traditional TV and turning to on-demand streaming. In fact, one survey found that 90% of Netflix users would rather pay more for their subscriptions than see ads between shows. Today’s viewers clearly have strong feelings about ads, and if you feel like TV commercials are out of control, you’re not alone.

This is where DISH AutoHop comes in. Known as the “commercial hopper,” AutoHop is your ticket to ad-free viewing, letting you enjoy more TV and reclaim those 14 to 16 minutes by skipping commercials. Follow the steps below to start using AutoHop:

1. Enable PrimeTime Anytime and upgrade to the Hopper 3 HD DVR (if you haven’t already). With the Hopper, commercials won’t interrupt your viewing or bust your budget, since AutoHop is included with the Hopper 3 at no additional charge.
2. Record your desired shows. The Hopper 3 allows you to record up to 16 shows at once and save them on a 2TB hard drive. PrimeTime Anytime will even record shows from major networks automatically.
3. Wait at least a day after the show’s original broadcast time to use AutoHop. DISH partners with ABC, NBC, FOX, and CBS to allow you to skip their commercials, but the contract doesn’t extend to live broadcasts.
4. Go to your DVR Menu and look for a red kangaroo icon next to the show’s title. AutoHop doesn’t work with all programs, but any show with the kangaroo icon is enabled for AutoHop and commercial-free viewing.
5. Select your desired show. A pop-up will ask you if you want to enable AutoHop. Select “Yes.”
6. Enjoy your show. AutoHop will briefly flash a red kangaroo icon whenever it automatically skips an ad.

Don’t forget that PrimeTime Anytime must be enabled for DISH AutoHop to work. And of course, if DISH Autohop is not working as expected, customer service representatives can help solve any technical issues.

Commercial skip feature is available at varying times, starting the day after airing, for select primetime shows on ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC recorded with PrimeTime Anytime.