Patent ID: 8819721

Claim:
A method of controlling access to back-to-back events by a customer associated with a video services receiver in a system having a plurality of video services receivers for a plurality of customers, wherein the video services receiver is configured to receive video content and to provide the video content to the customer on a display, the method comprising: receiving system-wide service information (SI) at the video services receiver, the SI being common to all of the plurality of video services receivers in the system, and the SI including system-wide blackout information for events on the service, and the SI including join-in-progress indicators for back-to-back events on the service; maintaining the system-wide blackout information at the video services receiver; receiving an entitlement control message (ECM) at the video services receiver, the ECM being specific to the service, and the ECM conveying service-specific blackout information for events on the service that is distinguishable and distinct from the system-wide blackout information; maintaining the service-specific blackout information at the video services receiver independently and separately from the system-wide blackout information; identifying a current event on a service; analyzing the system-wide blackout information for the current event; granting access to the current event when the system-wide blackout information authorizes access; checking a join-in-progress indicator for the current event when the system-wide blackout information indicates a blackout for the current event, wherein the SI includes the join-in-progress indicator for the current event; denying access to the current event when the join-in-progress indicator for the current event is in a first state; analyzing the service-specific blackout information for the current event when the join-in-progress indicator for the current event is in a second state; granting access to the current event when the service-specific blackout information authorizes access; and denying access to the current event when the service-specific blackout information prohibits access.