Method and apparatus for replacing a blacked out program in a seamless manner

A content delivery system headend, comprising:

• a satellite receiver that includes:
• an external communication interface that includes an antenna configured to receive at least one RF signal from a satellite, the at least one RF signal including a first channel supporting at least a first program to be blacked out, the external communication interface being further configured to receive a replacement program in a second digital transport stream;
• a tuner/demodulator for extracting a first digital transport stream from the first channel;
• a decoder arrangement for decoding the first and second digital transport streams in parallel with one another to provide a first and second video outputs, respectively;
• and
• a front end for receiving the first and second video outputs from the decoder arrangement, the front end being configured to process the first and second video outputs for selectively distributing them to subscribers over a content delivery system.

At least one computer-readable medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs a method including:

• simultaneously receiving from a satellite receiver a first decoded program stream supporting a first program and a second decoded program stream supporting a second program to replace the first program, wherein the first and second programs are supplied by a common content provider;
• delivering the first decoded program stream to subscriber terminals over a content distribution system on a first subscriber channel;
• and
• at a specified time, delivering the second program stream to the subscriber terminals over the content distribution system on the first subscriber channel instead of the first program stream.