Patent ID: 8418217

Claim:
A system comprising: a media content provider, separate from and operating independently of a plurality of media content processing subsystems connected to said media content provider over a network, said media content provider configured to broadcast, over the network, a plurality of encoded signals carrying media content instances, the signals configured to be decoded by tuners included in said plurality of media content processing subsystems to receive the media content instances; and a media content processing subsystem of said plurality of media content processing subsystems communicatively coupled to said media content provider by the network, said media content processing subsystem including at least one tuner and configured to receive a first media content instance from said media content provider to be decoded by one of said at least one tuner, determine whether each of said at least one tuner is busy receiving media content instances, and if so send a request for a second media content instance to said media content provider, said request configured to cause said media content provider to identify at least one other media content processing subsystem communicatively coupled to said media content provider and said media content processing subsystem by said network and able to provide said second media content instance, and instruct said at least one other media content processing subsystem to transmit said second media content instance decoded by a tuner included in said at least one other media content processing subsystem to said media content processing subsystem, and receive said decoded second media content instance from said at least one other media content processing subsystem connected to the network, at least a portion of said decoded second media content instance being received concurrently with said receipt of said first media content instance.