Patent ID: 6993788

Claim:
A method for manipulating a traditional television program live broadcast signal in a communication system including a headend that receives the traditional television program live broadcast signal and that sends programming to a plurality of hubs with each hub sending the programming to at least one node that distributes the programming to end users, the method comprising: receiving the traditional television program live broadcast signal at the headend for broadcast distribution to the end users; establishing a buffered storage queue at the headend that receives the signal; and transmitting a stream from the headend, the stream passing through a hub and through a node to reach an end user, the stream being derived from the traditional television program live broadcast signal, and the stream originating from a user selected playback point in the buffered storage queue whereby the traditional television live broadcast signal is distributed to the user and wherein user selection of the playback point allows the user to manipulate an otherwise traditional television program live broadcast signal.