A method of playing content on a multimedia device, comprising: while fast-forwarding content from a content stream, detecting a presence of a particular tag from information in one of a closed-captioning stream received with the content stream and a private data stream received with the content stream, the particular tag being extracted from said information and specifying: (a) a temporal location occurring at the beginning of, or within, an advertisement in the content stream; (b) a first amount of time; (c) at least one of: certain user commands to be accepted or ignored during a time period beginning at said temporal location and having a duration corresponding to the first amount of time; and certain user commands to be ignored during said time period; and (d) a second amount of time for which the tag is valid beyond the temporal location; detecting whether a fast-forwarding mode has been exited; and in response to detecting that the fast-forwarding mode has been exited: locating the temporal location specified by the particular tag, the temporal location being earlier than a point at which content from the content stream was being played at a time of detecting that the fast-forwarding mode had been exited; determining whether a third amount of time required to play content that occurs between the temporal location and a point at which the fast-forwarding mode was exited is not greater than the second amount of time specified by the particular tag; and in response to determining that the third amount of time is not greater than the second amount of time, playing content from the content stream beginning at the temporal location specified by the particular tag while limiting a set of user commands that the multimedia device can accept during said time period, wherein said limiting is based on the user commands specified in the particular tag; and in response to determining that the third amount of time is greater than the second amount of time, ignoring the particular tag. while fast-forwarding content from a content stream, detecting a presence of a particular tag from information in one of a closed-captioning stream received with the content stream and a private data stream received with the content stream, the particular tag being extracted from said information and specifying: (a) a temporal location occurring at the beginning of, or within, an advertisement in the content stream; (b) a first amount of time; (c) at least one of: certain user commands to be accepted or ignored during a time period beginning at said temporal location and having a duration corresponding to the first amount of time; and certain user commands to be ignored during said time period; and (d) a second amount of time for which the tag is valid beyond the temporal location; (a) a temporal location occurring at the beginning of, or within, an advertisement in the content stream; (b) a first amount of time; (c) at least one of: certain user commands to be accepted or ignored during a time period beginning at said temporal location and having a duration corresponding to the first amount of time; and certain user commands to be ignored during said time period; and certain user commands to be accepted or ignored during a time period beginning at said temporal location and having a duration corresponding to the first amount of time; and certain user commands to be ignored during said time period; and (d) a second amount of time for which the tag is valid beyond the temporal location; detecting whether a fast-forwarding mode has been exited; and in response to detecting that the fast-forwarding mode has been exited: locating the temporal location specified by the particular tag, the temporal location being earlier than a point at which content from the content stream was being played at a time of detecting that the fast-forwarding mode had been exited; determining whether a third amount of time required to play content that occurs between the temporal location and a point at which the fast-forwarding mode was exited is not greater than the second amount of time specified by the particular tag; and in response to determining that the third amount of time is not greater than the second amount of time, playing content from the content stream beginning at the temporal location specified by the particular tag while limiting a set of user commands that the multimedia device can accept during said time period, wherein said limiting is based on the user commands specified in the particular tag; and in response to determining that the third amount of time is greater than the second amount of time, ignoring the particular tag. locating the temporal location specified by the particular tag, the temporal location being earlier than a point at which content from the content stream was being played at a time of detecting that the fast-forwarding mode had been exited; determining whether a third amount of time required to play content that occurs between the temporal location and a point at which the fast-forwarding mode was exited is not greater than the second amount of time specified by the particular tag; and in response to determining that the third amount of time is not greater than the second amount of time, playing content from the content stream beginning at the temporal location specified by the particular tag while limiting a set of user commands that the multimedia device can accept during said time period, wherein said limiting is based on the user commands specified in the particular tag; and in response to determining that the third amount of time is greater than the second amount of time, ignoring the particular tag.