Method and System for Pricing a Programming Event Viewed by Subscriber Group

Abstract

A method and apparatus for group billing purchasers of transmitted programming events is provided. In one embodiment, a subscriber group includes two or more individual subscribers who receive programming from a programming provider. The individual subscribers periodically elect to view a program provided via the program provider. The program is provided on a pay-per-view basis, meaning that the program provider requires a sum of money to be paid in order to view the program. The sum of money is determined according to the number of viewers in a single subscriber group. In one embodiment, the subscribers interact during a program via a network connection.

1 . A method for determining a price of a program transmitted by a programming provider to subscribers, comprising: 
 receiving, via a network connection, a purchase order for a program from a subscriber belonging to a subscriber group defined by two or more subscribers, wherein each subscriber belonging to the subscriber group maintains an independent account with the programming provider whereby the subscriber pays the programming provider in order to receive paid for programming, and wherein each subscriber belonging to the subscriber group may elect to purchase or not purchase the program by selecting from a user interface that includes: (i) a selectable option to purchase the program; and (ii) a selectable option to forgo purchase of the program;    determining a first price for the purchase order if the program has been purchased by a threshold number of subscribers belonging to the subscriber group; and    determining a second price, higher than the first price, if the program has not been purchased by the threshold number of subscribers belonging to the subscriber group wherein the subscriber group is a predefined group of the two were more subscribers maintained in a data structure by the programming provider, the data structure maintaining a plurality of other subscriber groups each comprising two or more subscribers.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising preparing and sending an invoice to the subscriber for the program.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the threshold number of subscribers is greater than one and is some portion of all the subscribers of the subscriber group.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising notifying at least one other subscriber in the subscriber group of the purchase order.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the subscriber belongs to the subscriber group prior to determining the price.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the step of determining whether the subscriber belongs to the subscriber group comprises accessing a subscriber database.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising processing a request to initiate a network dialog session with at least one other subscriber in the subscriber group.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising handling messages sent between subscribers participating in the network dialog session.  
   
   
       9 . A system for transmitting programs to subscribers, comprising: 
 a database containing subscriber groups, each group having at least two subscribers;    a programming provider system connected to the database and configured to:    receive, via a network communication, purchase orders for programs from a plurality of the subscribers;    determine a first price for each purchase order if more than a threshold number of subscribers purchasing the same program belong to a common subscriber group, wherein each subscriber belonging to the subscriber group maintains an independent account with the programming provider whereby the subscriber pays the programming provider in order to receive paid for programming, and wherein each subscriber may elect to purchase or not purchase the same program by selecting from a user interface that includes: (i) a selectable option to purchase the program; and (ii) a selectable option to forgo purchase of the program; and    determine a second price, higher than the first price, for each purchase order if less than a threshold number of subscribers purchasing the same program belong to a common subscriber group.    
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the programming provider is at least one of a cable provider and a satellite provider.  
   
   
       11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the programs are one of a view-on-demand program and a pay-per-view program.  
   
   
       12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the programs are movies.  
   
   
       13 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the programs are entertainment events.  
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the programs are transmitted at a predetermined time.  
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein, if more than the threshold number of subscribers purchase the same program, the programming provider is further configured to transmit electronic offer notifications to those subscribers belonging to the common subscriber group who have not yet purchased the same program, the electronic offer notifications indicating that the same program may be purchased for a reduced fee as a result of the threshold number of subscribers purchasing the same program.  
   
   
       16 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein, the programming provider is further configured to: 
 receive electronic intent-to-view notifications from the plurality of subscribers indicating an intent to view a given program; and    for a given electronic intent-to-view notification from a given subscriber of a given subscriber group, sending an electronic alert notification to the other subscribers of the given subscriber group, the electronic alert notification indicating the intent of the given subscriber to view the given program and further indicating availability of a price reduction if the threshold number of subscribers of the given subscriber group purchase the given program.    
   
   
       17 . A system, comprising: 
 a plurality of signal processing units each associated with one of a plurality of subscribers, wherein the plurality of subscribers make up subscriber groups each including at least two subscribers; and    a programming provider system connected to the signal processing units and configured to:    transmit fee-based programming events to the signal processing units; and    determine prices of programming event purchased by the plurality of subscribers, wherein a price for each programming event is determined according to a number of purchase orders for the same programming event received from subscribers belonging to a same subscriber group, wherein the price decreases in proportion to increasing orders from different subscribers belonging to the same subscriber group, wherein each subscriber belonging to the subscriber group maintains an independent account with the programming provider whereby the subscriber pays the programming provider in order to receive paid for programming, and wherein each subscriber may elect to purchase or not purchase each programming event by selecting from a user interface that includes: (i) a selectable option to purchase the program; and (ii) a selectable option to forgo purchase of the program; and wherein information for each of the subscriber groups is maintained in a data structure by the programming provider system.    
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein programming provider system is configured to: 
 determine a first price for each purchase order if more than a threshold number of subscribers purchasing the same programming event belong to the same subscriber group; and    determine a second price, higher than the first price, for each purchase order if less than a threshold number of subscribers purchasing the same programming event belong to the same subscriber group.    
   
   
       19 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising a database accessible by the programming provider system and containing a subscriber identifier for each of the plurality of subscribers and a subscriber group identifier for each subscriber group.  
   
   
       20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the plurality of signal processing units are configured to communicate messages via a communication network.  
   
   
       21 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the programming provider system is at least one of a cable provider and a satellite provider.  
   
   
       22 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the programming events are one of a view-on-demand program and a pay-per-view program.  
   
   
       23 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the programming events are movies.