Patent ID: 7721306

Claim:
A method for bandwidth sharing between first and second satellite television networks where the first and second satellite television networks are each associated with separate competing direct broadcast satellite service providers, the method being carried out at a first satellite television network receiver and comprising: receiving a shared video data stream shared between the first and second satellite television networks via a shared satellite feed shared by the first and second satellite television networks; receiving advertisement metadata forming a part of the shared video data stream, the advertisement meta-data containing identifying information that identifies the advertisement as being associated with one of the first and second satellite television networks; storing at least a portion of the shared video data stream in an advertisement cache; determining which of the first and second satellite television networks the advertisement is associated with by reading the identifying information; if the first satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement, then outputting the advertisement as a video signal; and if the second satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement, then identifying an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache, retrieving the advertisement from the advertisement cache and outputting the stored advertisement as a video signal.