Methods and apparatus for revenue-optimized delivery of content in a network

A method of managing bandwidth within a content delivery network having a plurality of premises devices and respective users associated therewith, comprising:

• establishing a plurality of at least partly different program streams for at least some of respective ones of said premises devices;
• identifying at least one bandwidth constraint on said network;
• migrating at least one of said premises devices from a first program stream to a second program stream, the first program stream having content which is logically correlated to a demographic associated with a user of said premises device, the second program stream being less logically correlated to said demographic than said first program stream;
• and
• selectively removing said first program stream when no other premises devices are tuned to said first stream, thereby conserving bandwidth.

A method of operating a content distribution network, the method comprising:

• delivering at least first and second program streams to a plurality of users, the content of said first and second streams each being tailored to one or more respective demographic variables;
• identifying at least one bandwidth deficiency on said network;
• selectively switching ones of said plurality of users from said first program stream to said second program stream based at least in part on said deficiency, said second stream being less logically correlated to a demographic of said plurality of users than a correlation thereto by said first stream;
• and
• removing said first program stream after said selective switching, said removing conserving bandwidth within said network.

Apparatus for use in a content delivery network that delivers programming specifically configured for certain viewer demographics, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• an interface in data communication with said processor, said interface adapted to communicate with a storage device;
• a network interface;
• and
• at least one computer program adapted to run on said processor, said at least one program being configured to:
• determine one or more demographics and/or psychographics associated one or more subscribers of said network;
• establish a plurality of at least partly different program streams for at least some of respective ones of said subscribers;
• identify at least one bandwidth constraint on said network;
• selectively switch at least one of said subscribers from receiving a first program stream having content which is logically correlated to a demographic associated with said at least one subscriber to a second program stream that is less logically correlated to said demographic than said first program stream;
• and
• remove said first program stream from being delivered over said network.

A method of operating a content distribution network having a plurality of client devices operating in communication therewith, the method comprising:

• causing at least some of said client devices to receive at least a respective one of a first plurality of program streams being delivered over said network;
• and
• consolidating at least some of said client devices onto a second plurality of streams, said second plurality being fewer than said first plurality of streams, said consolidating allowing subsequent removal of one or more of said program streams within the network;
• wherein said consolidating further comprises causing said at least some of said client devices to be switched to a program stream which is less correlated to demographics of users of said at least some client devices than a program stream received at said at least some client devices before said switching.