A system for the efficient distribution of live and stored audio/video
streams to multiple subscribers without degrading normal data delivery
services. The system segments one or more frequency bands into sub-bands,
or channels, each of which is capable of carrying encoded audio, video,
and other data streams, to a plurality of subscribers. Each channel
transmitted in the system provides full-duplex operation so that each
subscriber may indicate what specific services are desired, such as
audio/video broadcast, two-way data transfer, video library access,
pay-per-view video, interactive video, and audio file transfer. A
transmission headend facility (`hub`) broadcasts multiple channels of
video/audio data (e.g., Internet data) in unicast mode via a shared media
transmission facility to multiple subscribers. Simultaneously, selected
video/audio/data is transmitted in Internet Protocol multicast mode over
one or more channels of the segmented frequency band. The subscriber is
provided a device which simultaneously and dynamically demodulates 2 or
more channels and interleaves the information over a single ethernet
interface connected to one or more IP enabled devices. Each subscriber
thus has the capability of, for example, receiving a video stream
concurrent with many other subscribers while simultaneously interacting
uniquely with the Internet or other data network.