Patent ID: 7669220

Claim:
A method for increasing channel utilization in a video broadcast system, comprising: receiving, at a head-end, a request for a video program from one of a plurality of subscriber stations; determining, at said head-end, whether said requested video program is associated with one of a predetermined plurality of subsets of video channels, wherein said plurality of subsets of video channels comprises a first subset of video channels representing a first subset of video broadcast channels having a first subscriber viewership level greater than a threshold level, a second subset of video channels representing a second subset of video broadcast channels having a second subscriber viewership level less than said threshold level, and a third subset of video channels representing on-demand channels having a third subscriber viewership associated with video-on-demand; causing substantially continuous transmission of said first subset of video broadcast channels from said head-end to said plurality of subscriber stations; causing transmission of said second subset of video broadcast channels from said head-end to said plurality of subscriber stations based upon availability of channels in said second subset of channels and assigning video programming corresponding to said request to an available one of said second subset of channels; and causing transmission of said third subset of video channels from said head-end to said plurality of subscriber stations upon assigning video programming corresponding to said request to an available one of said third subset of channels.