Patent ID: 8881222

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a television emulator client executed by equipment of a retail store enterprise, multimedia content from a centralized database to permit the television emulator client to simulate a plurality of features of an interactive television system on a display as the television emulator client interacts with the multimedia content received from the centralized database without utilizing a connection to a broadcast television system, wherein the multimedia content comprises a plurality of media content representing different programs for different channels over a pre-determined time period, wherein the multimedia content is received from the centralized database during a non-peak traffic time period, wherein the centralized database is controlled by a content provider, wherein the equipment of the retail store enterprise is one of a group of equipment controlled by the retail store enterprise, wherein the group of equipment is located at different stores of the retail store enterprise, and wherein the retail store enterprise and the content provider are independently operated service providers; storing, by the television emulator client executed by the equipment of the retail store enterprise, the multimedia content as a plurality of stored media content in a local database associated with the retail store enterprise; receiving, by the television emulator client executed by the equipment of the retail store enterprise, control signals from a remote control to enable an interactive demonstration of the television system, wherein the interaction of the television emulator client with the stored media content is based on the control signals, and wherein the interaction includes simulating functions of the television system, the functions comprising a fast channel change performed by switching between different media content of the plurality of stored media content to represent the different programs for the different channels; providing, automatically by the television emulator client executed by the equipment of the retail store enterprise, a polling request from the television emulator client to the centralized database regarding content updates; responsive to the polling request and responsive to a determination that the content updates exist, receiving, by the television emulator client executed by the equipment of the retail store enterprise, update data at the television emulator client from the centralized database; and responsive to the receiving of the update data, performing, by the television emulator client executed by the equipment of the retail store enterprise, a synchronization based on the update data to migrate changes in the centralized database to the local database, wherein the update data includes programming updates and channel updates.