A system and method for providing program guide information to subscribers is
disclosed.
In one embodiment, the method is applied to a broadcasting system having a first
service network broadcasting a first signal having a first set of programs, a second
service network broadcasting a second signal having a second set of programs, and
a third service network broadcasting a third signal having a third set of programs,
wherein the first signal, the second signal, and the third signal each include
service channels uniquely identified by a service channel identifier, a method
of providing a unified program guide to a receiver station. The method comprises
the steps of merging at least a portion of a first program guide describing at
least a portion of the first set of programs with at least a portion of a second
program guide describing at least a portion of the second set of programs to produce
a unified program guide describing at least a portion of a union of the first set
of programs and the second set of programs; mapping at least a portion of the unified
program guide to a first service channel of the first signal and the second signal;
and mapping the portion of the unified program guide to a second service channel
of the third signal, wherein the second service channel is logically offset from
the first service channel.