Patent ID: 8245257

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving at a client terminal, on a periodic basis and without a user request, only a portion of available electronic program guide (EPG) data from a remote EPG data source for storage on the client terminal and available for user recall on the client terminal, wherein the portion is limited to EPG data for a limited set of less than all available television channels, populating an EPG on the client terminal with the received portion of the EPG data; determining, based on a user request for EPG data from the client terminal, that an additional portion of the EPG data is needed at the client terminal; and responsive to the user request and prior to a next periodic EPG update, dynamically obtaining via a network request for that additional portion of the EPG data, the network request sent from the client terminal to the remote EPG data source to obtain data to populate into the EPG on the client terminal, wherein the client terminal is connected to a distribution network and accesses the remote EPG data source through an interface to the distribution network.