Patent ID: 8312504

Claim:
A method of storing expanses of portions of program signal streams by a headend of a cable television system, the method comprising: receiving a program signal stream from a source of programming content by a headend of a cable television system, the program signal stream comprising a sequence of programs provided serially, advertising, and a plurality of segmentation messages, wherein at least certain of the segmentation messages define respective starts of respective expanses of the program signal stream and/or respective ends of respective expanses, and at least some of the plurality of segmentation messages include rights-related information related to respective expanses, wherein at least certain first expanses include program content without advertising and at least certain second expanses include advertising without program content; segmenting by the headend the at least one respective program signal stream into the respective expanses based, at least in part, on respective segmentation messages, as the program signal stream is received; creating assets containing the respective expanses based, at least in part, on the respective segmentation messages, by the headend; storing the created assets by the headend; receiving a request for program content including a plurality of stored assets from a respective requesting party; determining if the rights-related information in a respective segmentation message for a respective expanse corresponding to one of the plurality of stored assets gives the headend the right to offer the requested program content comprising the plurality of stored assets without advertising; and if the headend has the right to offer the requested program content without advertising, assembling the program content from the stored assets; and transmitting the assembled program content without advertising, to the respective requesting party.