System for interactively distributing information services

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a terminal via a back channel, a request for at least one program of a plurality of programs, said request having a personal identification number (PIN) associated with a requesting viewer and a unique terminal identification number (TID) assigned to the terminal;

comparing the received TID from the request to a stored TID at a service provider to confirm the received TID;

comparing the received PIN from the request to a stored PIN at said service provider to confirm the received PIN;

sending, in response to confirming the received TID and the received PIN in the steps of comparing, the requested at least one program via a forward channel, said requested at least one program comprising data stream packets containing the received TID;

assigning, periodically by the service provider, a randomly altered TID to said terminal;

associating each of the requested at least one program with a unique program identification number (PID); and

randomly assigning and altering each PID.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending, from the service provider, each PID to a server storing said plurality of programs; and

receiving, at the service provider, the requested at least one program from the server upon completion of said comparing steps.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

maintaining a database particular to the requesting viewer;

associating the PIN of the requesting viewer with at least one authorized menu tree;

providing said at least one authorized menu tree to the requesting viewer for browsing and selection.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising randomly assigning and altering the PIN.

5. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing at least one application program that, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

receive, from a terminal via a back channel, a request for at least one program of a plurality of programs, said request having a personal identification number (PIN) associated with a requesting viewer and a unique terminal identification number (TID) assigned to the terminal;

compare the received TID from the request to a TID stored at the apparatus to confirm the received TID;

compare the received PIN from the request to a PIN stored at the apparatus to confirm the received PIN;

send, in response to confirming the received TID and the received PIN in the steps of comparing, the requested at least one program via a forward channel, said requested at least one program comprising data stream packets containing the received TID;

periodically assign a randomly altered TID to said terminal;

associate each of the requested at least one program with a unique program identification number (PID); and

randomly assign and alter each PID.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

send each PID to a server storing said plurality of programs; and

receive the requested at least one program from the server upon completion of said comparing steps.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

maintain a database particular to the requesting viewer;

associate the PIN of the requesting viewer with at least one authorized menu tree;

provide said at least one authorized menu tree to the requesting viewer for browsing and selection.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

randomly assign and alter the PIN.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

receive, from a server storing said plurality of programs, a reference clock signal;

modulate a plurality of data streams comprising at least two of the plurality of programs based on the received reference clock signal; and

transmit the plurality of modulated data streams to the terminal.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:

an oscillator source phase-locked to the reference clock signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:

a first modulator configured to send the requested at least one program at a first modulation frequency via the forward channel at a first instance of time; and

a second modulator configured to send the requested at least one program at a second modulation frequency different from the first modulation frequency via the forward channel at a second instance of time different from the first instance of time,

wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

instruct the terminal to decode from the second modulator during the second instance of time.

12. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

allocate at least one channel to the terminal based on a load associated with the terminal relative to a load associated with at least one other terminal.

13. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

open a session for the terminal responsive to receiving the request for the at least one program.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

receive an input indicating that a pause was selected by the viewer;

determine that the selection of the pause exceeds a threshold amount of time; and

terminate the session responsive to determining that the selection of the pause exceeds the threshold amount of time.

15. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each of the data stream packets is of a fixed length.

16. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:

at least one control channel modem configured to send the requested at least one program via the forward channel to the terminal using a broadcast mode.

17. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:

at least one control channel modem configured to send the requested at least one program via the forward channel to the terminal using a narrowcast mode.

18. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:

at least one control channel modem configured to send the requested at least one program via the forward channel to the terminal using a pointcast mode.

19. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:

a packetizer configured to generate the data stream packets.

20. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one application program, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:

receive the data stream packets from a server.