Patent ID: 8910221

Claim:
Apparatus configured to controllably deliver programming content associated with a program source in response to requests from a plurality of terminals in a service area, the apparatus comprising: an interface configured to receive the requests; a memory configured to store a first set of statistics generated based on data obtained from requests received during a first time interval, and a second set of statistics based on data obtained from requests received during a second time interval, the second time interval corresponding to a typical advertisement length; and a processing element configured to: identify, based on the first set of statistics, a plurality of future time periods in which the program source will attain a first popularity, a selected carrier assigned to deliver the programming content associated with the program source to the service area during the identified future periods, the carrier not reassigned when there is a lack of user requests for the programming content existing during the identified future periods, and during periods other than the identified future periods, the programming content associated with the program source delivered to the service area according to switched digital broadcast mechanisms; and identify, based on the second set of statistics, a second popularity of a particular advertisement based on a plurality of service group identifiers in the stored data; wherein the selected carrier is assigned to deliver the programming content based at least in part on the first set of statistics; and wherein the first and the second popularity are based at least in part on a determination that a number of terminals that receive the programming content in the identified future time periods exceeds a threshold.