AUTOMATIC ALERT TO START AN AUDIO/VISUAL PROGRAM

1 - 15 . canceled

16 . A method of determining broadcast content availability, comprising:

receiving a user selection for broadcast display of a program, wherein broadcast content of said program has a plurality of associated criteria;

analyzing said user selection and said associated criteria to determine monitoring characteristics;

monitoring broadcast program dataflow based on said monitoring characteristics to detect changes to said user selected program; and

updating information affecting broadcast of said user selected program upon detecting any changes.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said monitored change includes a change to programing schedule and/or content

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein user is sent an alert informing said user of any updating or changes.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said monitoring characteristics are provided by analyzing previous user selections.

20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said user monitoring characteristics are provided by analyzing user selection of broadcast content.

21 . The method of claims 16 , wherein said monitoring step is performed by analyzing streaming content.

22 . The method of claims 16 , wherein said detected changes affects a plurality of associated future programs and said plurality of associated programs are all modified.

23 . The method of claim 18 , wherein a different alert is sent for each modified associated program.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein a single alert is sent for all modified associated programs.

25 . A device, comprising:

a control module configured to activate a device responsive to a user selection for broadcast display of a program, wherein broadcast content of said program has a plurality of associated criteria;

an analysis module for determining monitoring characteristics relating to said user selection and associated criteria;

a tracking module for monitoring program dataflow based on said monitoring characteristics to detect changes to said selected user program; and

said control module also configured to update information about said user selected program when said user selected program is modified.

26 . The device of claim 25 , wherein said control module is configured to detect changes to programing schedule and/or content when monitoring changes.

27 . The device of claim 26 , wherein user is sent an alert informing said user of any updating or changes.

28 . The device of claim 24 , wherein said broadcast display is a future recording.

29 . The device of claims 25 , wherein said monitoring characteristics are provided by analyzing previous user selections.

30 . The device of claim 29 , wherein said user monitoring characteristics are provided by analyzing user selection of broadcast content.

31 . The device of claim 25 , wherein analyzing said user selection and associated criteria is made by examining an electronic program guide (EPG).

32 . The device of claim 25 , wherein analyzing said user selection criteria is made by examining an interactive program guide (IPG).

33 . The device of claim 25 , wherein a single alert is sent for all modified associated programs.

34 . The device of any of claim 25 , wherein said monitored change includes a change to programing schedule and/or content

35 . A computer program product for a programmable apparatus, the computer program product comprising a sequence of instructions for implementing a method according to steps comprising:

receiving a user selection for broadcast display of a program, wherein broadcast content of said program has a plurality of associated criteria;

analyzing said user selection and said associated criteria to determine monitoring characteristics;

monitoring broadcast program dataflow based on said monitoring characteristics to detect changes to said user selected program; and

updating information affecting broadcast of said user selected program upon detecting any changes.