channel-hop
/ˈtʃan(ə)lhɒp
/verb [no object] informal
1Change frequently from one television channel to another, using a remote control device.The much-married Murphy shuttles us between 50 years of his life and the compulsive television channel-hopping he has adopted as an alternative to more dangerous forms of addiction....
- Children, teens and adults channel-hop with the TV remote control, afraid to miss a single choice in their final viewing selection, flicking through the pictures and information like some sort of voluntary brain-washing session.
- Lori began idly channel-hopping again, guarding the remote jealously after repeated attempts by Angel to kidnap it.
2Travel across the English Channel and back to Britain frequently or for only a brief trip.
Derivatives
channel-hopper
- They must get a great many viewers simply through channel-hoppers.
- Claims that BBC4 has achieved 5% viewing figures are based on Enron-style accounting, whereby any channel-hopper who spends three consecutive minutes per week there is counted in.
- Now you can have 200 channels and nothing on - a flourishing of pointless choice that leads to attention-deficit viewing, the nervous tic of the channel-hopper who can't concentrate for more than a few seconds at a time.