Patent ID: 7954123

Claim:
A method for advertisement and content distribution in a hierarchical network system, comprising: receiving program content via a primary multicast group address; receiving supplementary content associated with a second multicast group address different than the primary multicast group address; transmitting the program content downstream via the primary multicast group address during a non-commercial interval, wherein the program content does not include splicing information; prohibiting transmission of the program content downstream during a commercial interval; transmitting the supplementary content downstream via the second multicast group address during the commercial interval; transmitting the program content downstream via an alternative multicast group address during the commercial interval, wherein the alternative multicast group address is different than the primary multicast group address and the second multicast group address; identifying an end of the commercial interval; terminating transmission of the program content downstream via the alternative multicast group address; and transmitting the program content downstream via the primary multicast group address responsive to identifying the end of the commercial interval.