Patent ID: 8484244

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to forecast an availability of content, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, at a client device, a selection of a media content item; retrieving metadata associated with the media content item from a database record corresponding to the media content item, the metadata comprising: similarly released media content item data, historical data, genre of the media content item data, popularity of the media content item data, time of the year data, release data for at least one release window associated with the media content item, and amount of revenue generated by the media content item in a prior or current release window data, the at least one release window specifying a period of time during which a distribution channel is permitted to distribute the media content item, the metadata, except for the release data itself, affecting the release data; based on the release data indicating the media content item has been released in a release window of the at least one release window, presenting an actual release date for the release window to the client device, the actual release date obtained from the retrieved metadata; based on the release data indicating the media content item has not been released in the release window of the at least one release window: calculating an estimated release date and a confidence indicator for the estimated release date for the release window of the media content item using the retrieved metadata; and presenting the estimated release date and the confidence indicator to the client device.