Patent ID: 7574404

Claim:
A method of assisting a user in purchasing cable television advertising, comprising the steps of: receiving at a server remote from the user cable television advertising information from the user; processing at the server the cable television advertising information to select at least one cable television programming choice; creating at the server a cable television advertising rate request directed to a at least one cable television programming provider of the at least one cable television programming choice for processing; transmitting from the server the cable television advertising rate request to the at least one cable television programming provider; receiving at the server a processed rate request from the at least one cable television programming provider creating at the server a cable television advertising schedule based on the processed rate request wherein the cable television advertising schedule is presented in a simplified format by applying a rating system to the cable television advertising schedule and creating numerical ratings and efficiency categories for the cable television advertising schedule; transmitting from the server the cable television advertising schedule to the user; receiving at the server a cable television advertising purchase decision from the user; and transmitting from the server the cable television advertising purchase decision to the at least one cable television programming provider.