Patent ID: 8601524

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a first request for content based at least in part on television channel information and timeslot information assigned to the requested content, wherein the television channel information and the timeslot information are provided by a programming guide; determining whether the requested content is long-tail content or non-long-tail content and providing the request to an alternate system if the requested content is non-long-tail content; if the requested content is long-tail content, transmitting information associated with the requested long-tail content from a long-tail content asset manager to the set-top box client; receiving a second request to initiate a long-tail content session based at least in part on the information associated with the long-tail content; and transmitting the long-tail content from a long-tail content server to the set-top box client without tuning the set-top box client to a different channel.