Method and apparatus for managing provision of media programs directly from content providers

A system for providing a media program of a plurality of media programs to a user device directly from a selected content provider of a plurality of content providers via a content provider playback application executed by the user device, the playback application provided and maintained by the content provider of the media program, comprising:

• a processor, the processor communicatively coupled to a memory, the memory storing processor instructions for performing steps comprising the steps of:
• receiving a registration request having registration information from a user device in a subscription management service, the registration request to subscribe the user to the selected content provider providing the media program;
• subscribing the user to the selected content provider providing the media program;
• transmitting program guide information of the plurality of media programs including the media program from the subscription management service to the user device for presentation by the user device;
• receiving a playback request from the program guide presented by the user device, the playback request comprising a user selection of the media program from the selected content provider for playback exclusively by the content provider playback application executed by the user device, the content provider playback application provided to the user device and maintained by the selected content provider of the media program;
• irretrievably passing the user device to the selected one of the content providers to receive and play back the media program from the selected content provider via the content provider playback application;
• and
• enabling playback of the media program from the selected content provider only by the content provider playback application executed by the user device only if the user is a subscriber to the selected content provider.