Apparatus and methods for carrier allocation in a communications network

A computerized network apparatus configured to provide access to digital content within at least one serviced portion of a digital content network, the computerized network apparatus comprising:

• at least one data interface configured for data communication with one or more computerized subscriber devices within the at least one serviced portion;
• a computerized modulator apparatus configured to allocate a plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers within an RF spectrum, wherein the plurality of RF carriers comprises a maximum number of carriers or less;
• a digital processor apparatus in data communication with the at least one data interface;
• and
• a storage apparatus in data communication with the digital processor apparatus, the storage apparatus having at least one computer program disposed thereon, the at least one computer program being configured to, when executed on the digital processor apparatus, cause the computerized network apparatus to:
• separate the plurality of RF carriers into a first subset of carriers and a second subset of carriers;
• perform at least one static channel allocation using the first subset of carriers;
• perform at least one dynamic channel allocation using the second subset of carriers;
• wherein the at least one dynamic channel allocation comprises assignment and reassignment of individual second carriers of the second subset of carriers to one or more digital content channels of a plurality of digital content channels based at least on then-current requests for the digital content channels from the one or more computerized subscriber devices;
• wherein the at least one dynamic channel allocation enables the computerized network apparatus to provide each the plurality of digital content channels to the one or more computerized subscriber devices;
• wherein the number of content channels of the plurality of digital content channels is greater than the maximum number of carriers;
• and
• wherein the at least one static channel allocation enables the computerized network apparatus to reduce a frequency of the assignment and reassignment of the second RF carriers required by the dynamic channel allocation.

Computer readable medium comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium comprising at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions configured to, when executed on a processing apparatus of a computerized apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to:

• identify each of (i) a first portion of a radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and (ii) a second portion of the RF spectrum;
• receive data indicative of one or more requests for digitally rendered content, the data indicative of the one or more requests originating from one or more computerized client devices in data communication with a digital content network;
• cause isolation of the first portion of the RF spectrum from a carrier selection algorithm operative to control a computerized modulator apparatus, the carrier selection algorithm configured to allocate RF carriers based at least in part on the data indicative of the one or more requests;
• identify a plurality of first RF carriers within the first portion of the RF spectrum and a plurality of second RF carriers within the second portion of the RF spectrum;
• select one or more RF carriers from the plurality of second RF carriers;
• cause allocation of the one or more RF carriers to a first digital content channel, wherein the first digital content channel provides access to the digitally rendered content;
• and
• utilize the one or more RF carriers of the second portion of the RF spectrum to service at least one of the one or more requests.