Patent ID: 7996459

Claim:
A method implemented in an operation center for delivering media content to a client, comprising: assigning, by the operation center, a channel to the client; receiving, by the operation center, a tune event from the client which indicates an instruction to receive desired media content of another channel that is different from the channel to which the client is assigned and to which a tuner of the client is tuned; switching, by the operation center, the desired media content from the other channel to the assigned channel such that the desired media content is deliverable over the assigned channel and such that the tuner of the client remains tuned to the assigned channel while receiving the switched, desired media content; and delivering, by the operation center, the desired media content to the client over the assigned channel, wherein the delivering takes place over a delivery infrastructure and delivery format developed for delivering media content items to clients over a plurality of channels associated with respective media content items, with an expectation that the clients receive the media content items by locally tuning to appropriate channels associated with the respective media content items, the local tuning generating tuning events but not changing a channel to which the tuner is tuned.