Patent ID: 7917934

Claim:
In an interactive information distribution system containing service provider equipment and subscriber equipment that is interconnected by a communications network, a method of providing a subscription-on-demand service, comprising: providing a set of more than two on-demand programs; packaging the set into a subset having at least two on-demand programs of the set of on-demand programs; providing, at the subscriber equipment, a user interface for the user to view program options; providing, at the subscriber equipment, a first applet for execution by the subscriber equipment for visually presenting a plurality of selectable objects for user selection through the user interface including a first selectable object for selecting subscription-on-demand services to cause subscription-on-demand packages to be visually presented in response to selection of the first object by a user, wherein the subscription-on-demand packages visually presented includes at least the subset of the at least two on-demand programs as a subscription-on-demand package; receiving, at a session manager, a selection of the first selectable object identifying one of the subset of the at least two on-demand programs; determining, at the session manager, a subscription status associated with the user and the selected first selectable object identifying one of the subset of the at least two on-demand programs; providing a second applet to the subscriber equipment for execution to visually present to the user a second selectable object based on the determination of the subscription status associated with the user and the selected first selectable object, including a start option when a price of said selection is zero; and immediately providing said selection in its entirety when the price of said selection is zero and the user selects the start option or providing a third applet to the subscriber equipment for execution based on the determination of the subscription status associated with the user and the selected first selectable object to visually present to the user an option to purchase the selection a la carte when the price of said selection is non-zero.