Abstract: Disclosed herein is a digital broadcast receiver capable of performing synthesis on a commercial that a user desires. If the commercial satisfies the Jth condition, a synthesis unit reads image data assigned to the Jth condition from a storage unit. Further, if a sync signal has been detected, the synthesis unit synthesizes an image represented by the image data read from the storage unit with video represented by a video signal outputted from a decoder, and outputs the synthesized data.

Abstract: The invention provides a recording and reproducing device having a CM skip function, which prevents reductions of advertising effects and user-friendliness. In the case where the contents recorded on the recording and reproducing device include a commercial portion, a viewing history flag is assigned to the commercial portion. If the commercial has been reproduced, the viewing history flag relevant to the commercial is set at 1 to control viewing history of each individual commercial portion. In the case where there is a request for reproduction of the contents, it is determined whether or not the commercial yet to be viewed is more than a predetermined amount to secure convenience for the user by imposing no operational limit until reaching the predetermined amount. If the predetermined amount is reached, an operational limit is imposed so as to urge viewing of the commercial.