Categorized electronic program guide

1. A method comprising:

grouping each of a plurality of representations of content that is currently available via a network for consumption into a respective one of a plurality of categories; and

outputting an electronic program guide for display on a touch screen of a mobile entertainment appliance, the electronic program guide configured to present content grouped within the plurality of categories in a grid display such that:

said representations of content in a matching said category are arranged for display together in the electronic program guide;

a representation is displayed to denote a respective said category;

the electronic program guide is manipulable via a gesture applied to the touch screen to scroll through the representations of different items of content within the grid display that are grouped in an individual category during concurrent display in the grid display of one or more other representations of other content associated with another said category on the touch screen that remain as is, such that items within different concurrently displayed categories are scrollable independently from one another, the representation of the category being scrollable together with the different items of content within the category such that a continued scroll in a single direction includes a progression through each of the representations of the different items of content within the category and return to the representation of the category; and

at least one said category, which does not have one or more items categorized of the currently available content, is not presented for display in the electronic program guide.

2. A method as described in claim 1 , wherein each said category corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of genres.

3. A method as described in claim 1 , wherein the outputting is performed such that each said representation of the respective said category includes an indication of a number of said items of content that are grouped in the category.

4. A method as described in claim 1 , wherein the grouping and the outputting are performed in real time.

5. A method as described in claim 1 , wherein the grouping and the outputting are performed at a client in response to selection of an option to initiate the grouping at the client.

6. A method as described in claim 1 , further comprising receiving electronic program guide data over the network and generating the representations of the content based on the electronic program guide data.

7. A method as described in claim 1 , wherein the network is a broadcast network having a plurality of channels.

8. A method as described in claim 1 , wherein the outputting is performed by a remote control device that is configured to initiate one or more control functions of another client that is configured to output the content.

9. A method comprising:

displaying a user interface on a touch screen of a client, the user interface having a plurality of representations of categories of content that are available via a broadcast at the client and configured to hide one or more defined categories for which there are no content items currently available; and

scrolling within the displayed user interface representations of the content in a respective said category in response to a gesture received via the touch screen to scroll said category individually within the displayed user interface such that another said representation of another said category remains displayed as is in the displayed user interface during at least a portion of the scrolling, each said category manipulable to scroll through items within the category using a carousel technique without changing the display of other said categories, said category having a representation that is scrollable together with the representations of items within said category such that a continued scroll in a single direction includes a progression through each of the representations of the items within said category and return to the representation of said category.

10. A method as described in claim 9 , wherein the representations of the categories are displayed vertically in the user interface and the representations of the content in the respective said categories are scrollable horizontally in the user interface.

11. A method as described in claim 9 , further comprising:

grouping each of the plurality of representations of content that is currently available for consumption at a client into a respective one of the plurality of categories.

12. A method as described in claim 9 , wherein the content includes television programming and the user interface is an electronic program guide.

13. A method as described in claim 9 , wherein the client includes telephone functionality.

14. A method as described in claim 9 , wherein the client includes functionality to initiate one or more control functions of another client that is configured to display the content.

15. A method as described in claim 9 , wherein the client is not configured to display the content.

16. A mobile entertainment device comprising:

one or more processors;

a touch screen;

one or more computer readable memory devices having instructions stored thereon that are executable by the one or more processors to output an electronic program guide having a plurality of representations of content, which are currently available via a broadcast for consumption at the device, arranged in different respective categories in a displayed grid on the touch screen such that:

available representations of content within the different respective categories are displayed in the grid concurrently and a representation of a defined category is not output when the defined category does not match at least one item of content that is currently available;

the different respective categories are selectable for scrolling through the touch screen on an individual basis to enable a user to scroll content in the displayed grid within a particular category while content in other said categories displayed concurrently remains as is and navigation individually of each category to display selected representations of different content within different respective categories together in the electronic program guide for comparison one to another, the particular category having a representation that is scrollable together with the content within the particular category such that a continued scroll in a single direction includes a progression through each representation of the content within the particular category and return to the representation of the particular category.

17. A mobile entertainment device as described in claim 16 , wherein at least one said item of the content is content and the broadcast includes a plurality of channels via which the content is available.

18. A mobile entertainment device as described in claim 16 , wherein the representations of the categories are displayed vertically in the electronic program guide and the representations of the content in the respective said categories are scrollable horizontally in the electronic program guide.

19. A mobile entertainment device as described in claim 16 , wherein the representations of the categories are displayed in a vertical list in the electronic program guide and the vertical list is scrollable to display one or more hidden categories.

20. A method as described in claim 9 , wherein the representations of the categories are displayed vertically in the user interface and the representations of the categories are vertically scrollable to display one or more additional categories that are not initially displayed.