Patent ID: 8473570

Claim:
A method for hosting multiple service providers in a data network, the method performed by a content distribution server and comprising: comparing a unique device identifier provided by a device during activation with identification of affiliated devices associated with each of a plurality of service providers to determine a match; discovering, when a match is determined, an affiliation of the device, wherein the affiliation associates the device with one of the plurality of service providers associated with a matching unique device identifier, each service provider offering one or more packages of services for distribution by the content distribution server on the data network; filtering a database of services offered by the plurality of service providers, the filtering performed according to the affiliation, to generate a filtered package database describing only selected services of the database of services offered by the plurality of service providers; and transmitting the filtered package database from the content distribution server to the device, wherein the filtered package database describes only the selected services available to the device based on the affiliation with the one of the plurality of service providers.