A computer-readable tangible non-transitory storage medium storing a program for causing a terminal of a viewer to: receive, from a server over a network, a video data related to a live-stream in which a distributor, the viewer, and other viewers participate; accept input of normal information by the viewer during the live-stream, the normal information being viewable by the distributor and the other viewers; and accept input of exclusive information by the viewer during the live-stream, the exclusive information being information that is transmitted to a terminal of the distributor on condition that the viewer pays or consents to pay a price and that is not viewable by the other viewers.

A method for shifting transcript costs from a content supplier to a user that includes the steps of transcribing text into a transcription device, transmitting the transcribed text from the stenographic transcription device to a digital store of a computer and providing in the computer an algorithm configured to associate the steno transcribed text with an advertisement for accessing and viewing. The transcribed text is associated with the advertisement and the text and the associated advertisement is delivered to a user's device for display and viewing. The transcribed text may be in document form or captioning displayed for viewing on a video viewing device such as a laptop monitor or television screen.

Disclosed is a system provides substantially synchronized streaming. The system comprises at least one server, in communication with a user profile database, and operable to communicate, over a network, with client devices connected to the Internet; and provide a media stream to the client devices such that the media stream is displayed, in a substantially synchronized manner, on display screens of the client devices.

The VIDEO DELIVERY EXPEDITION APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS (“VDE”) transform Internet content data access request via VDE components into media content playback at a client device. In one implementation, the VDE may issue a notification or a user interface element to a user after delivery of a process one data from the server to a client; and trigger a background delivery of a process two data, wherein the triggering occurs when the user initiates playback of said process one data.

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for facilitating criteria-based cost-efficient routing and deployment of metadata packages in an on-demand services environment according to one embodiment. In one embodiment and by way of example, a method comprises analyzing, by a metadata costing server computing device, characteristics of a metadata package awaiting deployment, where analyzing includes matching the characteristics with predefined criteria associated with deployment of metadata packages. The method may further include routing, by the metadata server, the metadata package for real-time deployment if the characteristics satisfy the criteria, where the real-time deployment allows for bypassing of message queues associated with standard deployment.

Disclosed is a media sharing system that provides shared experiencing of licensed media content such as movies. The system includes a web server that communicates with multiple client devices over the internet whereby a user's multiple social contacts can participate in a synchronized stream of licensed media content such as movies. The system is able to schedule the multi-user experiencing of the licensed media content and further synchronize the streaming of the licensed content so the participating users receiving the media streams in a substantially synchronized manner. The system still further provides for social content interaction amongst the multiple recipients so that the multiple users can interact in a time-contextual manner consistent with the substantially synchronized receipt of the licensed media content.

A system for automatically selecting television channels based on wager information can include a set-top box, wager databases having user wager information, broadcast databases having broadcast schedule information, and a controller. The wager information can include an event identifier and a corresponding wager amount. The broadcast schedule can include a channel, a start time, and an end time for each event. The controller can include processors and memory devices having instructions that cause the processors to obtain wager information for the user from the wager databases, match each event identifier and corresponding wager amount to the broadcast schedule, determine a set of live events by comparing a current time with the start time and end time for each event, prioritize the live events based on wager amount, and send an instruction to the set-top box to display the channel corresponding to each live event in order of priority.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving, from a streaming application, a listing of media content items provided by the streaming application to a first device of a first user, determining a priority set of the media content items of the listing of media content items according to relative demand profiles of a plurality of media content items, for each priority media content item of the priority set of the media content items, providing the priority media content item to an edge server of a set of edge servers accessible to the first device, updating edge server location information associated with the priority media content item, and providing the edge server location information to the streaming application. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A video-on-demand (VOD) content delivery system has a VOD Application Server which manages a database of templates for presentation of video content elements of different selected types categorized in hierarchical order. A web-based Content Management System receives content uploaded online in file formats with metadata for title and topical area, and automatically converts it into video data format compatible with the VOD content delivery system indexed by title and topical area. A User Interface for the system delivers listings data to the viewer's TV indexed by title and topical area specified by the uploaded metadata.

A system and method for operating a communication network having one or more cable modems. Operating the communication network may include displaying one or more messages to a subscriber and making temporary changes to Cable Modem Termination Systems in order to modify the availability of network resources for one or more cable modems assigned to a subscriber without requiring a rebooting of the one or more cable modems.