Patent ID: 8166511

Claim:
A method for distributing a digital video program from at least one content provider to at least one receiver communicatively coupled to a network, said method comprising: receiving user preference data comprising user identification information, one or more preferred program types, user billing information, and a device indicator; determining a plurality of digital video programs available for transmission over the network; generating a customized programming schedule comprising program schedule listings for a subset of the digital video programs selected based on the preferred program types and the device indicator; receiving a remote log-in request to access a user account, said log-in request being received over the Internet via a separate device; granting access to the user account via the Internet; selecting the customized programming schedule from a plurality of customized programming schedules based on a determination that the separate device corresponds to the device indicator; transmitting, to the separate device, display data for displaying the customized programming schedule; receiving, from the separate device, a selection signal for selecting one of the plurality of digital video programs; automatically updating the user preference data based on the selected digital video program; attempting to bill the user account for the selected digital video program using a determined cost associated with the selected digital video program and user billing information; and routing the selected digital video program to at least one receiver if the user account was successfully billed for the selected digital video program.