Program guide navigation tools for media content access systems and methods

An apparatus comprising:

• at least one processor configured to generate a program guide graphical user interface including a view of a portion of a program guide, the program guide including data representative of content channels and time slots associated with media content instances;
• an output driver configured to provide the program guide graphical user interface to a first subset area of a display for presentation to a user and concurrently provide a media content instance to a second subset area of the display, the program guide graphical user interface including a selector positioned at a location in the program guide, said output driver being further configured to provide at least one navigation tool to the display for presentation overlaid on a portion of the program guide graphical user interface, the at least one navigation tool including a plurality of selectable options configured to change a focus of the selector to a pre-selected non-adjacent location in the program guide;
• and
• a receiver configured to receive a user selection of one of the selectable options;
• wherein said at least one processor is configured to change the focus of the selector to the non-adjacent location in the underlying program guide based on a first selected option associated with a selected category and a second selected option associated with a selected channel in the selected category, wherein the non-adjacent location in the underlying program guide is displayed in response to receiving the second selected option,
• wherein the plurality of selectable options includes at least one of a plurality of content channel grouping options and a plurality of individual content channel options and wherein each of the content channel grouping options is associated with a pre-selected content channel included in a grouping of content channels included in the program guide.

A method comprising:

• providing a program guide graphical user interface to a first subset area of a display for presentation to a user, the program guide graphical user interface including a portion of a program guide, the program guide including a plurality of content channels and a plurality of time slots forming a matrix of cells, and a plurality of media content instances associated with the cells;
• providing a media content instance to a second subset area of the display for presentation to the user concurrently with the program guide graphical user interface;
• detecting an occurrence of a predetermined event;
• providing in response to the event at least one navigation tool overlaid on the program guide graphical user interface, the at least one navigation tool including a plurality of selectable options configured to jump a selector to a location in the program guide, the plurality of selectable options including at least one of a plurality of content channel grouping options and a plurality of individual content channel options and wherein each of the content channel grouping options is associated with a pre-selected content channel included in a grouping of content channels included in the program guide;
• detecting a user selection of one of the selectable options;
• and
• initiating a navigation to the location in the underlying program guide based on a first selected option associated with a selected category and a second selected option associated with a selected channel in the selected category, the navigation to the location including moving a selector from one of the cells to a pre-selected non-adjacent cell in the program guide in response to receiving the second selected option.

A method comprising:

• providing a program guide graphical user interface to a display device, wherein the program guide graphical user interface is configured to present a matrix of a plurality of cells formed from a plurality of content channels and a plurality of time slots;
• receiving a request to access a navigation tool associated with the program guide graphical user interface;
• providing a plurality of selectable options associated with the requested navigation tool, including at least one presentation option configured to display a media content instance concurrently with the program guide graphical user interface, the plurality of selectable options including at least one of a plurality of content channel grouping options and a plurality of individual content channel options and wherein each of the content channel grouping options is associated with a pre-selected content channel included in a grouping of content channels included in the program guide;
• receiving a selection of the at least one presentation option;
• providing a media content instance to the display device concurrently with the program guide graphical user interface;
• and
• receiving a user selection of an option to move a selector from one location to a pre-selected non-adjacent location in the matrix of cells, wherein receiving the user selection includes receiving a first selected option associated with a selected category and receiving a second selected option associated with a selected channel in the selected category, wherein the pre-selected non-adjacent location is associated with at least one of the pre-selected content channels of the plurality of content channels and time slots and wherein the non-adjacent location is displayed after receiving the second user selection.