So, commercial skipping isn't the legal issue, it is just the part that pisses them off.

Exactly.

Think about this... it is the networks that are promoting the lawsuit. These are the same networks that broadcast their programming over the airwaves, not only free for anybody with a television set to watch, but they go to incredible work and expense to encourage as many people as they possibly can to watch their products.

So would somebody please explain to me, just how in hell is it in any way damaging to the networks to have even more people (i.e., those terrible Replay Pirates) see their programming?

As far as skipping commercials goes... my TiVo fast-forwards at 60x playing speed. I press the FF button for four seconds, and I have skipped a four minute commercial break. Only difference is Replay does it automagically. And having had some experience with the Commercial Advance(tm) technology, I can tell you this: TiVo's method is better! The Commercial Advance(tm) technology is at best about 85% accurate (at least in the VCR's I've had that use it) which means that about four times an hour you are going to see a commercial, or you are going to unintentionally skip past some of your programming.

I don't know if Replay licenses Commercial Advance(tm) technology or if they use some other method. I ended up turning my Commercial Advance(tm) off after a while as being too unreliable.

tanstaafl.