Technique for effectively providing various entertainment services through a communications network

A system for providing program material to a plurality of devices in an area via a communications network, the system comprising:

• a first processing device configured to:
• receive program content from a plurality of sources in the form of respective program streams to be provided to users in accordance with a first, broadcast service for sharing among devices in an area or a second, on demand service for exclusive use by a requesting device;
• store respective second single program stream transport streams to be provided in accordance with the second, on demand service, in a storage device as assets;
• generate at least one file to manipulate respective program content in accordance with the second, on demand program service, the at least one file being based on a respective second single program stream;
• and
• store the at least one file in the storage device in addition to storing the second single program stream;
• the system further comprising:
• at least one mechanism configured to provide multiple program stream transport streams comprising multiple first program stream transport streams containing respective program material to the area in accordance with a first, broadcast service for sharing among devices in the area, in at least one transport stream, via the network, the respective first program stream transport streams being received by at least one device in the area;
• at least one second processing device configured to:
• receive requests for program material attributed to at least one selected channel associated with the first, broadcast service or the second, on demand service, respectively, from respective devices in an area;
• for requests for program material attributed to selected program channels associated with the first, broadcast service, identify to requesting devices respective first single program stream transport streams containing the requested program material, and identify the respective multiple program stream transport stream containing the respective single program stream transport stream to the respective requesting devices;
• withhold provision of a respective first single program stream transport stream to the area if no devices in the area select a respective channel associated with the respective first single program stream transport stream, thereby making available transmission capacity in the at least one transport stream for a second single program stream transport stream to be provided to a device in the area in accordance with the second on demand service;
• for requests for selected program channels associated with the second, on demand service, generate second single program stream transport streams containing the requested program material for exclusive use by respective requesting devices, from the stored respective second single program stream transport streams;
• for requests to manipulate program material provided in accordance with the second, on demand service, generate respective third single program stream transport streams based, at least in part, on the at least one respective file;
• and
• integrate the generated second single program stream transport streams and generated third single program stream transport streams with first single program stream transport streams in the at least one multiple program stream transport stream to be provided to the area by the mechanism, in at least a portion of the transmission capacity made available by withholding provision of respective first program stream transport streams, the respective second and third program stream transport streams being for the exclusive use of respective requesting devices.

A method for providing program material to a plurality of devices in an area via a communications network, the method comprising:

• receiving program content from a plurality of sources in the form of respective program streams to be provided to users in accordance with a first, broadcast service for sharing among devices in an area or a second, on demand service for exclusive use by a requesting device;
• reformatting the program streams into respective first and second single program stream transport streams encoded at a constant bit rate;
• storing the second single program stream transport streams in storage device as assets;
• providing the first single program stream transport streams containing program material to the area in accordance with the first, broadcast service via a cable television network, for sharing among devices in the area in first multiple program stream transport streams;
• receiving requests for program material associated with the second, on demand service, from respective devices in the area;
• generating second single program stream transport streams in response to the requests for program material associated with the second on demand service, from the stored assets, for exclusive use by respective requesting devices;
• withholding provision to the area of respective first single program stream transport streams not received by any device in the area, thereby making available transmission capacity for the second single program stream transport stream;
• integrating at least one of the generated second single program stream transport streams with at least one first single program stream transport stream provided to the area in at least a portion of the transmission capacity made available by withholding provision of respective first single program stream transport streams, to form second multiple program stream transport streams;
• and
• provide the second multiple program stream transport streams to the area including at least one second single program stream transport stream.