IPTV EPG linking broadcast channels to internet sources of scheduled programming

Consumer electronic (CE) device comprising;

• display;
• network interface;
• processor configured with instructions for controlling the display and communicating with the Internet through the network interface;
• the processor configured for executing logic including:
• presenting on the display an electronic program guide (EPG) listing broadcast TV programming;
• receiving selection of a program entry on the EPG corresponding to a TV program;
• responsive to selection of the entry corresponding to the TV program, automatically accessing an Internet source of the TV program instead of a broadcast TV source also presenting the TV program simultaneously with the Internet source;
• and
• presenting on the display the TV program received from the Internet source, wherein the EPG lists plural television channel numbers each carrying televised programming and is presented on the display in response to a viewer toggling a “guide” key on remote control (RC), wherein using the RC a viewer can navigate around the EPG and select a TV channel to navigate to an Internet source of an audio-video program associated with the selected TV channel such that content that is identical to that broadcast on the selected TV channel from a TV signal source is streamed from an Internet server and presented on the display.

Display device controlled by a processor to;

• present a visual electronic program guide (EPG) including:
• a first column presenting an ordered list of TV broadcast channel numbers and a second column presenting network names and/or station names associated with respective channel numbers in the first column;
• a program schedule matrix listing, by sequential time slots, names of broadcast programs from a broadcast TV source and
• source selector element including a broadcast selector selectable to cause, responsive to a user selecting a first TV program from the EPG, the processor to access the first TV program from a TV tuner for presentation on the display, the source selector element also including an Internet selector selectable to cause, responsive to a user selecting the first TV program from the EPG, the processor to access the first TV program from an Internet server for the same time slot, wherein source selector element enables a viewer to select “broadcast”, in which case a selected program from a TV tuner is presented on the display device, or “Internet”, in which case the selected program is presented but as received not from the broadcast TV source through the TV tuner but rather from an Internet server;
• at least a “past” selector element selectable to navigate to an Internet server streaming episodes of a selected program that have been broadcast in the past and/or a “future” selector element selectable to navigate to an Internet server streaming episodes of a selected program that will be broadcast in a time slot the future to a time slot shown, and/or a “record” selector element being presented and selectable by a viewer to record a selected program.