Importance

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Abstract

A television viewer can easily navigate programs which are grouped according to a common service provider or other grouping criteria by depressing the 'channel up' or 'channel down' buttons on a hand-held remote control. Programming services which are provided via one or more transmission paths are integrated, thereby allowing a viewer to successively select the grouped channels regardless of the broadcast signal, transmission path, frequency spectrum, transport stream and/or PID in which the channel is carried. Data is provided with broadcast signals to indicate broadcast address information which corresponds to a primary channel and one or more secondary channels of a channel group. A viewer can successively view the channels of the group while bypassing intermediate non-group channels. Grouped channels can thus be designated by a common channel designator such as a channel number. Goodwill and brand loyalty which has been built up over time in a local station channel number can be used to define a family of programs to maintain continuity as channels are added or dropped, or channel assignments of programming services are rearranged.

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First Claim