Patent ID: 7600245

Claim:
A method for allowing programming providers to offer subscribers programming events, the method comprising: a. associating events spanning multiple channels over non-contiguous time slots to create packages of programming; b. generating an electronic programming guide, the electronic programming guide having a programming grid of cells that simultaneously lists a wrapper associated with each package and each package's associated events, the wrapper surrounding all the cells in the programming grid that are associated with the events for each package, the programming grid also simultaneously listing a start time and a stop time of each event associated with each package; the electronic programming guide having a first mode in which inputs to a navigator scroll from one wrapper to another wrapper of different packages of programming, and the electronic programming guide having a second mode in which inputs to the navigator scroll from a cell associated with an event in a package to another cell associated with another event within the same package; c. recognizing the non-contiguous events; d. in response to recognizing the non-contiguous events, prompting to switch from the first mode to the second mode; e. detecting a keystroke input to a control device; f. if the keystroke input is a cursor key to the navigator, then determining whether the electronic programming guide is in the first mode or the second mode; and g. if the keystroke input is not the cursor key to the navigator, then determining whether the keystroke input is a zoom key.