Method and apparatus for delivery of programs and metadata to provide user alerts to tune to corresponding program channels before high interest events occur during playback of programs

A method of alerting a user of a tuned channel to events of interest occurring on other available channels, comprising:

• receiving, by a receiver and from a content stream, a plurality of program channels and metadata associated with the plurality of program channels;
• identifying, by the receiver, a subset of the plurality of program channels as designated channels;
• buffering, by the receiver, the designated channels in a buffer as received;
• identifying, by the receiver and based at least in part on the received metadata, a desired content occurring on a desired channel of the designated channels at a later time from a current playback time;
• overlaying, by the receiver and in response to the identifying the desired content, a selectable alert message relating to the desired content, on current content corresponding to a currently presented channel from the plurality of program channels;
• after receiving a user input indicative of a selection of the alert message, switching, by the receiver, from a currently presented channel to the desired channel, wherein the desired channel is delayed in time, with respect to the currently tuned channel, by an amount based at least in part on a delay associated with buffering the desired content through the buffer, a time from tagging of the desired content to generating and transmitting the metadata, identifying a longest duration of play action preceding the desired content that is to be played back, and a lead time preceding a start of the desired content that is based on the metadata;
• and
• playing the desired channel based on the amount the desired channel is delayed in time.