[smoldesu]

If you want to build this IRL, take cues from the MuteMagic. I wrote a paragraph of suggestions, but then clicked through to the MuteMagic and realized it was 80% of what I imagined. All you need is an IR blaster that can be aimed at a TV receiver; no remote stealing should be necessary for most TVs. Wouldn't be terribly hard to do with Arduino/Raspberry Pi either, if you want a fun weekend project.

As for the advertisement detection... that's the hard part. You'd need a well-tuned solution that doesn't break on scene transitions or channel switching. Definitely an easier project than it sounds though, and I recommend looking into that stuff if it interests you =)

[_tpdt]

my thinking on not doing the IR blaster remote or dealing with the TV receiver, is the mechanical hand approach could work on non-television options (like a projector where your chromecasting a tv stream)