Metadata System for Real-Time Updates to Electronic Program Guides

An apparatus, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by one or more computers to:
• obtain an electronic program guide (“EPG”) feed from a third party provider, the EPG feed comprising a plurality of program listings of broadcast television programs;
• provide an application programming interface (“API”) for adding enhanced metadata to the EPG feed;
• obtain, with the API, enhanced metadata pertaining to a broadcast television program;
• identify one of the plurality of program listings corresponding to the broadcast television program;
• integrate the enhanced metadata with the identified program listing;
• format an EPG from the EPG feed, the EPG including the integrated enhanced metadata;
• identify a display preference indicating a display device on which to display the integrated enhanced metadata, wherein the display preference is included as part of the subscriber preferences;
• and
• render a graphical display of the EPG having the integrated enhanced metadata for display on the display device indicated by the display preference.

A computer system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the one or more processors, the computer readable medium having encoded thereon software executable by the computer system to perform one or more operations, the software comprising instructions executable by the one or more processors to:
• obtain an electronic program guide (“EPG”) feed from a third party provider, the EPG feed comprising a plurality of program listings of broadcast television programs;
• provide an application programming interface (“API”) for adding enhanced metadata to the EPG feed;
• obtain, with the API, enhanced metadata pertaining to a broadcast television program;
• identify one of the plurality of program listings corresponding to the broadcast television program;
• integrate the enhanced metadata with the identified program listing;
• format an EPG from the EPG feed, the EPG including the integrated enhanced metadata;
• identify a display preference indicating a display device on which to display the integrated enhanced metadata, wherein the display preference is included as part of the subscriber preferences;
• and
• render a graphical display of the EPG having the integrated enhanced metadata for display on the display device indicated by the display preference.