Techniques to efficiently deliver interactive program guide (IPG). In one
aspect, if an IPG page is requested by a viewer and not already
transmitted, only the guide portion for the requested page is sent
instead of the entire page. The requested page includes a guide portion
that is specific to the requested page and a background portion that is
common for a number of pages. The background portion can be continually
broadcasted by the head-end. The requesting terminal is thus able to
regenerate the requested page based on the demand-casted guide portion
(i.e., transmitted upon request) and the continually broadcasted
background portion. Alternatively, the entire requested page can be
transmitted. In another aspect, instead of sending the requested guide
portion continually, the guide portion is sent a limited number of times
(e.g., only once, upon receiving the request). Since the guide portion
for any particular page is normally static and does not change over time,
sending the guide portion a limited number of times (e.g., once) is
typically sufficient and greatly reduces bandwidth usage.