Patent ID: 7596360

Claim:
A broadcast receiver comprising: a channel table configured to store receivable channels for each of a plurality of areas; channel switches to which receivable channels of an area in which the broadcast receiver is located are assigned; a receiver configured to receive a broadcast signal of one channel which is designated by one of the channel switches; an instruction unit configured to issue an instruction for reassigning receivable channels to the channel switches; a channel selector configured to select one receivable channel in response to the instruction; an area selector configured to select a candidate area group including at least one area which includes the one receivable channel selected by the channel selector; a channel acquiring unit configured to acquire, from the channel table, receivable channels for the at least one area in the candidate area group; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not a broadcast signal of one of the receivable channels acquired by the channel acquiring unit can be received by the receiver; an updating unit configured to, when the determination unit determines that the broadcast signal of said one of the receivable channels can be received by the receiver, update the candidate area group by removing from the candidate area group an area which does not include said one of the receivable channels; and a channel setting unit configured to, when the updating unit causes there to be only one area in the candidate area group, to set the receivable channels for said only one area to the channel switches.