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I've noticed a lot of primetime cable shows have, what i refer to as a splash lead/follow, before and after commercial breaks. For instance CBS's NCIS has a short photo montage of the ensuing action and FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has an unmistakable bright yellow title screen. I believe editors have invented these devices for those viewers who watch the show after it's been recorded as to notify during fast forwarding through the commercials. This short clip gives the viewer enough time to realize the ads are over and to hit play on the remote. This is a great idea but I'd like to take it a step further.

This could be automated alleviating the user interaction all together. Since these splash leads/follows for are distinguishable between different shows software could be developed that recognizes the splash follow then initiates a fast forward to the next splash lead. A user would simply flash their cable box with altered firmware and commercials are automatically skipped when watching a recorded show.

Cable companies, advertisers and just about everyone (except the viewers) would be opposed to this feature and legal action would undoubtedly be taken against the developers.