Patent ID: 7260601

Claim:
A method for transmitting a plurality of media programs in a network, comprising the steps of: determining a first audience size of a first media program and a second audience size of a second media program; comparing said first audience size with said second audience size to determine a relative value; assigning a first distribution resource to said first media program and a second distribution resource to said second media program in response to said relative value, whereby assignment of distribution resources is made based on relative audience size; applying one of a plurality of transmission modes to each said media program in response to the audience size and assigned distribution resource; wherein said first media program and said second media program each have at least one recipient and said determining step further comprises the steps of: receiving a media program request from each said recipient, determining said first audience size based upon a number of requests received for said first media program, and determining said second audience size based upon a number of requests received for said second media program, the second media program distinct from the first media program, and wherein said first distribution resource is a high distribution volume channel and said second distribution resource is a low distribution volume channel such that said relative value indicates a distribution requirement and said assigning step further comprises assigning said high distribution volume channel to the media program having the greater distribution requirement; wherein applying one of the plurality of transmission modes to each said media program in response to the audience size and assigned distribution resource comprises: applying to the media program assigned to the high distribution volume channel and having a larger audience size of one of the first audience size and the second audience size, a negative acknowledgement based correction mode when the high distribution volume channel comprises a broadband channel; and applying, to the media program assigned to the low distribution volume channel and having a smaller audience size of one of the first audience size and the second audience size, an acknowledgement based correction mode when the low distribution volume channel comprises a unicast channel.