Patent ID: 7571232

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a request for content associated with a channel at a server including one or more processors, wherein the server is configured to maintain and distribute channel information to client devices, and wherein the request is received from a client device; identifying, at the server, an Internet protocol address associated with the content; identifying, at the server, service information data associated with the channel based on the Internet protocol address in response to receiving the request for content associated with the channel, wherein the service information data is configured to be used by the client device to tune to the channel, and wherein the service information data is stored in a database coupled to the server; determining, at the server, how the content associated with the channel will be provided to the client device in response to identifying the service information data; and sending instructions from the server to the client device, wherein the instructions notify the client device how to access the content associated with the channel.