Method and apparatus for providing periodic subscription television services

Service denial apparatus for periodically permitting and denying service to subscribers of a subscription system, the service denial apparatus comprising

• a communications receiver for receiving communications from a service provider,
• a communications decoder, responsive to the communications receiver, for decoding communications received from the service provider,
• a memory for storing instructions and data for periodically permitting and denying service to a particular subscriber,
• selective service denial circuitry for selectively permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber, and
• a control circuit, responsive to the communications decoder and the memory, for selectively actuating the memory and the selective service denial circuitry, the control circuit responsive to a first communication actuating storage in the memory of a data code representing a periodic service offering, the data code further indicating a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic service offering and responsive to a second communication at a first predetermined time actuating the selective service denial circuitry to permit reception of service by the particular subscriber on the predetermined plurality of channels and, responsive to a third communication at a second predetermined time actuating the service denial circuitry to deny reception of service by the particular subscriber.

A subscription television system comprising

• a headend for addressably transmitting communications to a particular subscriber;
• a receiver for receiving communications from the headend;
• a decoder, responsive to the receiver, for decoding communications addressably transmitted to the particular subscriber;
• a memory for storing instructions and data for permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber;
• a service denying circuit for controlling whether the particular subscriber receives a periodic service offering, the periodic service offering being received over at least one channel;
• and
• a control circuit, responsive to the decoder, for controlling the service denying circuit to allow the particular subscriber to receive the periodic service offering over the at least one channel responsive to a first communication indicating a start time of the periodic service offering, and for controlling the service denying circuit to inhibit the particular subscriber from receiving the periodic service offering over the at least one channel responsive to a second communication indicating an end time of the periodic service offering.

Service denial apparatus for periodically permitting and denying service to subscribers of a subscription system, the service denial apparatus comprising,

• a communications receiver for receiving communications from a service provider,
• a communications decoder, responsive to the communications receiver, for decoding communications received from the service provider,
• a memory for storing instructions and data for periodically permitting and denying service to a particular subscriber,
• selective service denial circuitry for selectively permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber, and
• a control circuit, responsive to the communications decoder and the memory, for selectively actuating the memory and the selective service denial circuitry, the control circuit responsive to a communication actuating storage in the memory of a data code representing a periodic service offering, the data code further indicating a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic service offering.