Patent ID: 8528013

Claim:
A content delivery system headend, comprising: a Switched Digital Video (SDV) manager for coordinating SDV sessions requested by subscribers over an access network by determining SDV transport streams transmitted at a time and directing set top terminals associated with subscribers to a SDV transport stream, wherein the SDV manager provides channel change requests received from a set to terminal associated with a subscriber to a subscriber controller to determine whether to switch a broadcast channel onto the network for the subscriber and the SDV manager keeps track of which of the subscribers are watching which channel, an input for receiving content to be broadcast during the SDV sessions; and the subscriber controller for comparing the channel change requests received by the SDV manager to subscriber-established rules such that the broadcast channel associated with the channel change request is only switched on for the subscriber if the channel change request conforms to the subscriber-established rules; wherein the if the channel change request is associated with a channel that is to be blocked in accordance with the subscriber-established rules, the SDV manager transmits a control message to the set to terminal from which the channel change request is received, the control message requesting the set to terminal to tune to an alternative channel or program, wherein the alternative program indicates that the program requested by the first subscriber has been blocked, wherein the subscriber-established rules includes channel ratings, content ratings, and purchase control criteria that includes a total spending limit over a period of time, and wherein the headend communicates with the set top terminals via an out-of-band (OOB) channel, a DOCSIS channel, an Internet Protocol (IP) tunnel, an IP connection and associated protocols, and an in-band channel, wherein the control message is transmitted from the SDV manager to the set top terminal via at least one of the out-of-band (OOB) channel, the DOCSIS channel, the Internet Protocol (IP) tunnel, the IP connection and associated protocols, or the in-band channel.