Method and apparatus for providing real time television listings for venues

A system for disseminating venue-specific content output information to users, the system comprising:

• (a) a venue database storing a plurality of venue entries associated with a respective plurality of venues, each venue entry comprising or being associated with information identifying one or more content output devices deployed at the venue, each of the content output devices configured to output content to users at the venue;
• (b) a controller communicatively coupled to the content output devices by a first network, the controller configured to:
• (i) receive, over the first network, from the content output devices, identifying information associated with the content currently being output or scheduled to be output by the respective content output devices deployed at the plurality of venues, and
• (ii) cause the venue entries stored in the venue database to be updated with the received identifying information associated with the content currently being output or scheduled to be output by the content output devices deployed at the respective venues;
• and
• (c) a server accessible by a plurality of devices associated with users, over a second network, from locations other than the plurality of venues, to provide the identifying information stored in the venue database, the identifying information allowing the respective users to determine content currently being output or scheduled to be output at one or more of the plurality of venues.

A system for disseminating venue-specific television programming information to users, the system comprising:

• (a) a venue database storing a plurality of venue entries associated with a plurality of venues, each venue entry including information identifying one or more set-top boxes deployed at the venue, each of the set-top boxes configured to output content at the venue through respective communicatively coupled display devices;
• (b) a controller communicatively coupled to the set-top boxes by a first network, the controller configured to:
• (i) receive, over the first network, from the set-top boxes, identifying information associated with the content to be output by the respective set-top boxes deployed at the plurality of venues, and
• (ii) cause the venue entries stored in the venue database to be updated with the received identifying information of content to be output by set-top boxes deployed at the respective venues;
• and
• (c) a server accessible by computing devices of users over a second network to retrieve the identifying information stored in the venue database, the identifying information allowing the respective users to determine content to be output at venues of interest prior to physically visiting the venues.