Remote task scheduling for a set top box

In a system that broadcasts data over a one way transmission to a plurality of set top boxes, a method for remotely scheduling a task for implementation on a set top box, the method comprising steps for:

• providing program guide data to a user over a network, wherein the user requests a task from the program guide data that is provided to the user;
• receiving the task that was requested by the user from the program guide data;
• generating a notification from the requested task, wherein the notification includes task attributes and a set top box identifier, as well as a sequence number that enables the set top box to determine whether the task has already been processed;
• sending the notification to a notification service, wherein the notification service stores the notification in a task database;
• sending, by the notification service, the notification to a broadcast service, wherein the broadcast service sends the notification to the set top box over the one way transmission.