Patent ID: 7610606

Claim:
A system for providing at least first and second services in an integrated fashion to deliver program material via a hub to a plurality of devices in an area coupled to the hub, comprising: an interface for receiving a request for program material attributed to a selected program channel from a device in the area; and at least one processing unit responsive to the request for determining whether the selected program channel is associated with the first service or the second service, wherein the at least one processing unit is configured to: if the selected program channel is associated with the first service, identify to the device a program stream of a first type containing the requested program material, the program stream of the first type being provided to the area for sharing with other devices in the area, thereby making available transmission capacity; if a program channel associated with the first service is not selected by any device in the area, provide no program stream of the first type containing the non-selected channel to the hub for delivery to the area; and if the selected program channel is associated with the second service, generating a program stream of a second type which contains the requested program material for exclusive use by the device, and integrating the program stream of the second type with at least one program stream of the first type in a transport stream transmitted to the area.