System and method for providing available-channel user selectivity

1. A method for providing available-channel selectivity to a user comprising the acts of:

receiving a first user tuning request corresponding to a first broadcast channel;

tuning to the first user requested broadcast channel in response to the first user tuning request;

detecting that a desired broadcast station corresponding to the first user requested broadcast channel has been reassigned;

identifying one or more alternative broadcast channels corresponding to the reassigned desired broadcast station; and

displaying to the user, in response to the detecting, an alternative channel availability indicator including user selectable channel information for the one or more alternative broadcast channels,

wherein broadcast content associated with one of the one or more alternative broadcast channels is displayed after a user makes a selection using the alternative channel availability indicator.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more alternative broadcast channels comprises parsing program information from a physical channel associated with the first user requested broadcast channel.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more alternative broadcast channels comprise at least one virtual channel corresponding to the desired broadcast station.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the reassignment comprises:

parsing broadcast station identification information from a broadcast signal carrying the desired broadcast station; and

comparing the station identification information in the broadcast signal to corresponding station information in a locally stored channel map.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein parsing broadcast station identification information comprises parsing at least one of Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) data, vertical blanking interval data, and Extensible Markup Language (XML) data in the broadcast signal.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the alternative channel availability indicator is displayed when the comparing identifies a discrepancy between the station identification information in the broadcast signal and the corresponding station information in the locally stored channel map.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a second user tuning request corresponding to the user selection made using the alternative channel availability indicator.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising tuning to one of the one or more alternative broadcast channels in response to the second user tuning request.

9. A television system for providing available-channel user selectivity comprising:

a display screen;

a broadcast signal tuner configured to receive broadcast programming;

a user input; and

a processor electrically coupled to the display screen, broadcast signal tuner and user input, the processor configured to cause the system to:

receive a first user tuning request via the user input corresponding to a first broadcast channel;

tune the broadcast signal tuner to the first user requested broadcast channel in response to the first user tuning request;

detect that a desired broadcast station corresponding to the first user requested broadcast channel has been reassigned;

identify one or more alternative broadcast channels corresponding to the reassigned desired broadcast station; and

display to the user on the display screen, in response to detecting the reassignment, an alternative channel availability indicator including user selectable channel information for the one or more alternative broadcast channels,

wherein the display screen displays broadcast content associated with one of the one or more alternative broadcast channels after a user makes a selection using the alternative channel availability indicator.

10. The television system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to identify one or more alternative broadcast channels by parsing program information from a physical channel associated with the first user requested broadcast channel.

11. The television system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more alternative broadcast channels comprise at least one virtual channel corresponding to the desired broadcast station.

12. The television system of claim 9 , wherein, in order to detect the reassignment, the processor is further configured to:

parse broadcast station identification information from a broadcast signal carrying the desired broadcast station; and

compare the station identification information in the broadcast signal to corresponding station information in a locally stored channel map.

13. The television system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to parse broadcast station identification information by parsing at least one of Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) data, vertical blanking interval data, and Extensible Markup Language (XML) data in the broadcast signal.

14. The television system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the system to display the alternative channel availability indicator when the comparison identifies a discrepancy between the station identification information in the broadcast signal and the corresponding station information in the locally stored channel map.

15. The television system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the system to receive a second user tuning request via the user input corresponding to the user selection made using the alternative channel availability indicator.

16. The television system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to tune the broadcast signal tuner to one of the one or more alternative broadcast channels in response to the second user tuning request.

17. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer storage medium having computer executable program code tangibly embodied therein to provide available-channel selectivity to a user, the computer storage medium having:

computer executable program code to receive a first user tuning request corresponding to a first broadcast channel;

computer executable program code to tune to the first user requested broadcast channel in response to the first user tuning request;

computer executable program code to detect that a desired broadcast station corresponding to the first user requested broadcast channel has been reassigned;

computer executable program code to identify one or more alternative broadcast channels corresponding to the reassigned desired broadcast station;

computer executable program code to display to the user, in response to the detecting, an alternative channel availability indicator that includes user selectable channel information for the one or more alternative broadcast channels; and

computer executable program code to display broadcast content associated with one of the one or more alternative broadcast channels after a user makes a selection using the alternative channel availability indicator.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the computer executable program code to identify the one or more alternative broadcast channels comprises computer executable program code to parse program information from a physical channel associated with the first user requested broadcast channel.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the one or more alternative broadcast channels comprise at least one virtual channel corresponding to the desired broadcast station.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the computer executable program code to detect the reassignment further includes:

computer executable program code to parse broadcast station identification information from a broadcast signal carrying the desired broadcast station; and

computer executable program code to compare the station identification information in the broadcast signal to corresponding station information in a locally stored channel map.

21. The computer program product of claim 20 , wherein the computer executable program code to parse broadcast station identification information comprises computer executable program code to parse at least one of Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) data, vertical blanking interval data, and Extensible Markup Language (XML) data in the broadcast signal.

22. The computer program product of claim 20 , wherein the computer executable program code to display the alternative channel availability indicator comprises computer executable program code to display the alternative channel availability indicator the comparison identifies a discrepancy between the station identification information in the broadcast signal and the corresponding station information in the locally stored channel map.

23. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the non-transitory computer storage medium further comprises computer executable program code to receive a second user tuning request corresponding to the user selection made using the alternative channel availability indicator.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 , wherein the non-transitory computer storage medium further comprises computer executable program code to tune to one of the one or more alternative broadcast channels in response to the second user tuning request.