Method for consolidation of services, equipment, and content using spectrally efficient transport

A head end, comprising:

• an optical signal receiver capable of receiving an optical signal, transported to at least one head end from a consolidated information distribution center via at least one optical fiber;
• and
• an optical signal decoding mechanism capable of decoding the optical signal to obtain content of multiple channels carried by the optical signal;
• and
• an content selector capable of selecting, from the multiple data channels, one or more desired content channels.

A method of distributing information, comprising:

• generating, by a consolidated information distribution center, an optical signal based on content data of multiple channels;
• sending the optical signal to at least one head end via at least one optical fiber;
• receiving, by the at least one head end, the optical signal that is transported through the at least one optical fiber;
• and
• decoding, by the at least one head end, the optical signal to produce the content data of multiple channels.

An article comprising a storage medium having stored thereon instructions for distributing information that, when executed by a machine, result in the following:

• generating, by a consolidated information distribution center, an optical signal based on content data of multiple channels;
• sending the optical signal to at least one head end via at least one optical fiber;
• receiving, by the at least one head end, the optical signal that is transported through the at least one optical fiber;
• and
• decoding, by the at least one head end, the optical signal to produce the content data of multiple channels.