System and method for announcing media changes

A non-transient computer-readable medium that stores a set of instructions when executed perform a method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

• receiving a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Live Streaming (HLS) adaptive bitrate (ABR) playlist comprising an entry for a dedicated timed metadata stream, the dedicated timed metadata stream being located at a designated location;
• retrieving timed metadata items from the dedicated timed metadata stream, the timed metadata items specifying availability of a particular subset of a superset of all media types which are anticipated as being available at start of a media segment in streaming media playlists, the timed metadata items further specifying a change in availability of another particular subset of the superset of all media types which are anticipated as being available at start of another media segment in the streaming media playlists, wherein the timed metadata is synchronized with timeline of a the streaming media playlist;
• and
• enabling a selection of one available media item from said superset of media items at least on the basis of the signaled change in the retrieved timed metadata items, wherein the enabling the selection of one available media item comprises displaying, by an application on a client device, a list of available media items at least on the basis of the signal of the change in availability of the particular subset of the superset of all media types which are anticipated as being available in streaming media playlists.

A system comprising:

• a memory storage;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processor is operative to:
• a dedicated Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Live Streaming (HLS) adaptive bitrate (ABR) timed metadata stream which is located at a designated location;
• populate the dedicated timed metadata stream with timed metadata items, the timed metadata items specifying availability of a particular subset of a superset of all media types which are anticipated as being available at start of a media segment in streaming media playlists, wherein the timed metadata items further specify a change in availability of another particular subset of the superset of all media types which are anticipated as being available at start of another media segment in streaming media playlists, and wherein the timed metadata is synchronized with timeline of the streaming media playlist;
• and
• make the timed metadata items available to an application on a client device, wherein the processor being operative to make the timed metadata items available comprises the processor being operative to display, by an application on a client device, a list of available media items at least on the basis of the signal of the change in availability of the particular subset of the superset of all media types which are anticipated as being available in streaming media playlists.