Patent ID: 8285818

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a second server, information from a first server of a multimedia distribution service, wherein the information indicates a first number of requests to record specific multimedia content received at the first server from a plurality of customer premises equipment (CPE) devices, wherein the first server is configured to provide the specific multimedia content to the plurality of CPE devices; determining, at the second server, whether the first number of requests is greater than or equal to a threshold; sending, from the second server, a storage location identifying where the specific multimedia content should be recorded to the first server, wherein the storage location is based on the determination of whether the first number of requests is greater than or equal to the threshold; recording, at the second server, the specific multimedia content when the first number of requests is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold, wherein the second server is configured to provide the specific multimedia content to the first server; receiving, at the second server, a first request from a first CPE device to initiate transmission of a first stream of the specific multimedia content, wherein the first request is received prior to a start of transmission of the specific multimedia content; receiving, at the second server during the recording of the specific multimedia content at the second server, a second request from a second CPE device to initiate transmission of a second stream of the specific multimedia content; and granting, at the second server the requests from the first and second CPE devices and providing the first and second CPE devices access to an entirety of the specific multimedia content.