Advertisements in broadcast television programming are digitally replaced with different ads prior to viewing. Replacement can occur in time and/or place shifted content, and can be used to promote a particular advertisement that the viewer has not yet seen, thereby improving the reach of the ad without oversaturation. Data reporting by the playback devices is collected in a database of viewed ads. The information in the database can be used to refresh previously-viewed ads, to increase saturation of particular ads, to replace previously-broadcast but no longer relevant ads, or for other purposes as desired.

Methods and systems are described for storing content. The content may be divided into user-specific portions and common portions. One or more selection rules may be used to divide the content into the user-specific portion and the common portions. The one or more selection rules may be selected such that the common portion is not decodable without the user-specific portions. The user-specific portions or data indicating a location of the user-specific portion may be stored in user-specific storage. The user-specific storage may be used to determine content for playback to a user.

Systems and methods for addressing a corrupted segment in a media asset. The media guidance application determines that a segment of a media asset is corrupted. The media guidance application determines whether a retrieval period to retrieve an uncorrupted copy of the segment exceeds a threshold period. If the retrieval period does not exceed the threshold period, the media guidance application retrieves and generates for display the uncorrupted copy of the segment. If the retrieval period exceeds the threshold period, the media guidance application determines whether an importance level of the corrupted segment exceeds a threshold level. If the importance level exceeds the threshold level, the media guidance application generates for display a summary for the corrupted segment. If the importance level does not exceed the threshold level, the media guidance application generates for display the subsequent segment and the summary for the corrupted segment in an overlay.

Systems and methods for sorting favorite content sources are provided. A list of favorite content sources arranged in a first order is stored. The favorite content sources in the list are accessed according to the order of the favorite content sources in the list. At a given time, a user request to change a currently accessed content source to one of the favorite content sources in the list is received. In response to receiving the user request, an attribute of content presented on the currently accessed content source at the given time is identified. The favorite content sources in the list are rearranged into a second order based on the identified attribute. The favorite content sources in the list arc accessed according to the second order in response to receiving the user request.

Embodiments are related to faster provisioning of targeted advertisements at a set-top box (STB) via an Internet Protocol (IP) connection between the STB and a remote server. The disclosed IP-based advertisement distribution system enables targeted advertisements to be pulled from the remote server efficiently, causing the advertisements to be made available within a short time frame (e.g., less than one day from the time when the advertisements are available). The disclosed methods enables a STB to determine whether to retain existing targeted advertisements, discard them, or provision newly-available advertisements. The targeted advertisements can depend on various factors such as demographic information of an owner of the STB, lifestyle information of the owner of the STB, etc.

Example methods and systems for modifying the playback of content using pre-processed profile information are described. Example instructions, when executed, cause at least one processor to access a media stream that includes media and a profile of equalization parameters, the media stream provided to a device via a network, the profile of equalization parameters included in the media stream selected based on a comparison of a reference fingerprint to a query fingerprint generated based on the media, the profile of equalization parameters including an equalization parameter for the media; and modify playback of the media based on the equalization parameter specified in the accessed profile.

The present disclosure provides video playback methods and apparatuses, computer-readable storage media, and electronic devices for video playback, which may reduce the search waiting time for a user during video playback. The video playback method may include: determining a time range for an initial incremental search according to a target playback timing retrieving a video file in each of the at least two search segments in a search sequence determined according to a preset search rule in a way that when a video file is retrieved from one of the at least two search segments, determining whether the video file satisfies a playback condition, when the video file satisfies the playback condition, playing the video file, and, when retrieving video file from one of the search segments is completed, continuing to retrieve a video file from a remaining search segment that has not been searched in the search sequence.

Example embodiments provide systems and methods for crowdsourced skipping of media content portions. In an example method, a plurality of content tags are received from a plurality of media content devices over a communication network. Each of the plurality of content tags may designate a location within a media content item. The content tags are processed to generate aggregated content tags for the media content item. The aggregated content tags may designate one or more portions of the media content item for modified playback. The aggregated content tags for the media content item are transmitted over the communication network to a first media content device separate from the plurality of media content devices.

This disclosure is directed to a system and method that automatically detects repeated content within multiple media items. Content providers often include content, such as an introduction, near the beginning of a media item. In some circumstances, such as in the case of a series of television episodes, the content providers use the same content in each episode of the series. By dividing the media items into portions and analyzing the portions, the systems and methods described can automatically detect the repeated content. Using the detection of the repeated content, a user interface can then allow a user to bypass the repeated content during playback.

Systems and methods are described herein for generating a watch schedule and compressed series for a user for a series that is expected to become unavailable. Availability data indicating when a content series will become unavailable is received and compared to user progression habits. If the content series will become unavailable before the user will complete it, a watch schedule may be offered to the user. If the user subsequently falls behind on this watch schedule, a compressed version of the content series may be offered to the user.