Patent ID: 8923685

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a media content storage balancing system, a command input by a user to record media content; recording, by the media content storage balancing system, media content data comprising at least a portion of an episode of a television series in response to the command; automatically selecting, by the media content storage balancing system, at least one storage device from a local storage device and a network storage device for storage of the recorded media content data in accordance with a demand rating that represents a relative demand for the recorded media content compared to at least one other media content instance and is determined based at least in part on the user consistently watching episodes of the television series within a certain time period after the episodes are recorded, wherein: the local storage device is included within a media content access device capable of facilitating presentation of the media content data, and the network storage device is included within a remote server communicatively connected to the media content access device by way of a wide area network; and storing, by the media content storage balancing system, the recorded media content data in the at least one selected storage device.