Method and System for Selective Initial Television Channel Display

Abstract

A novel electronic program guide (EPG) based method and system for the distribution and display of programs enables the system service provider to determine which program a subscriber will initially see upon power-up of the subscriber's television receiver. The service provider maintains one or more Initial Program Display Tables that list information about programs to be displayed upon power-up of subscribers' receivers, from highest priority to least priority. The Initial Program Display Table or Tables are periodically transmitted to all of the subscribers and stored by the subscribers' set-top boxes. Upon power-up of a subscriber's receiver, the set-top box will attempt to cause the receiver to immediately display the highest ranked program from the Initial Program Display Table. The service provider controls which programs are displayed upon initial power-up and the ranking of programs in the case where there is difficulty displaying the highest ranked program.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 transmitting content items;   generating data describing a hierarchical ranking of the content items that is configured to be usable by first and second devices to determine channel information for attempting to present one or more of the content items, and is configured to cause the first and second devices to be controlled to:
 attempt to present, upon initially being caused to present content, a first content item having a highest ranking within the hierarchical ranking of the content items based on the channel information, and 
 proceed, if unable to present the first content item, through the hierarchical ranking of the content items in rank order until a second content item within the hierarchical ranking of the content items is presentable; and 
   transmitting the data describing the hierarchical ranking of the content items to the first and second devices.