Bandwidth sharing

1. A method for bandwidth sharing between first and second satellite television networks where the first and second satellite television networks are each associated with separate competing direct broadcast satellite service providers, the method being carried out at a first satellite television network receiver and comprising:

receiving a shared video data stream shared between the first and second satellite television networks via a shared satellite feed shared by the first and second satellite television networks;

receiving advertisement metadata forming a part of the shared video data stream, the advertisement meta-data containing identifying information that identifies the advertisement as being associated with one of the first and second satellite television networks;

storing at least a portion of the shared video data stream in an advertisement cache;

determining which of the first and second satellite television networks the advertisement is associated with by reading the identifying information;

if the first satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement, then outputting the advertisement as a video signal; and

if the second satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement, then identifying an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache, retrieving the advertisement from the advertisement cache and outputting the stored advertisement as a video signal.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein identifying an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache comprises determining an advertisement identifier from the advertisement meta-data to identify the stored advertisement.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein identifying an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache comprises identifying a default advertisement.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the default advertisement is selected from a plurality of stored default advertisements.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein identifying an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache comprises identifying an advertisement specified by a rule.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the rule comprises a rule associating the stored advertisement with a specified television program.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the rule comprise a rule associating the stored advertisement with a specified television channel.

8. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the rule is invoked in the event of a failure to retrieve an advertisement from the advertisement cache.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on one or more programmed processors, carries out a method according to claim 1 .

10. A method for bandwidth sharing between first and second satellite television networks where the first and second satellite television networks are each associated with separate competing direct broadcast satellite service providers, the method being carried out at a first satellite television network receiver and comprising:

receiving a shared video data stream shared between the first and second satellite television networks via a shared satellite feed shared by the first and second satellite television networks;

receiving advertisement metadata forming a part of the shared video data stream, the advertisement meta-data containing identifying information that identifies the advertisement as being associated with one of the first and second satellite television networks;

storing at least a portion of the shared video data stream in an advertisement cache;

determining which of the first and second satellite television networks the advertisement is associated with by reading the identifying information;

if the first satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement, then outputting the advertisement as a video signal;

if the second satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement, then identifying an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache, retrieving the advertisement from the advertisement cache and outputting the stored advertisement as a video signal;

wherein identifying an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache comprises determining an advertisement identifier from the advertisement meta-data to identify the stored advertisement, and, wherein in the event the advertisement identified by the meta-data is not stored in the advertisement cache, the identifying further comprises identifying at least one of a default advertisement and an advertisement specified by a rule.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the rule comprises a rule associating the stored advertisement with at least one of a specified television program and a specified television channel.

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the default advertisement is selected from a plurality of stored default advertisements.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on one or more programmed processors, carries out a method according to claim 10 .

14. A receiver apparatus for bandwidth sharing between first and second satellite television networks where the first and second satellite television networks are each associated with separate competing direct broadcast satellite service providers, the receiver apparatus being used for receiving subscription services from a first satellite television network, the receiver apparatus comprising:

a digital satellite receiver that receives a shared video data stream, the shared video data stream being shared between the first and second satellite television networks via a shared satellite feed;

the shared video data stream containing advertisement metadata, the advertisement meta-data containing identifying information that identifies the advertisement as being associated with one of the first and second satellite television networks;

an advertisement cache that stores advertisements;

an advertisement processor that determines which of the first and second satellite television networks the advertisement is associated with by reading the identifying information in the meta-data, and wherein the advertisement processor operates to:

output the advertisement as a video signal if the first satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement; and

identify an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache, retrieve the advertisement from the advertisement cache and output the stored advertisement as a video signal, if the second satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement.

15. The receiver apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the advertisement processor identifies an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache by determining an advertisement identifier from the advertisement meta-data to identify the stored advertisement.

16. The receiver apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the advertisement processor identifies an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache by identifying a default advertisement.

17. The receiver apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the default advertisement is selected from a plurality of stored default advertisements.

18. The receiver apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the advertisement processor identifies an advertisement that is possibly stored in the advertisement cache by applying a rule.

19. The receiver apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the rule comprises a rule associating the stored advertisement with a specified television program.

20. The receiver apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the rule comprise a rule associating the stored advertisement with a specified television channel.

21. The receiver apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the rule is invoked in the event of a failure to retrieve an advertisement from the advertisement cache.

22. The receiver apparatus according to claim 14 , further comprising a network advertisement filter that stores advertisements in the advertisement cache.

23. The receiver apparatus according to claim 14 , further comprising an advertisement receiver that receives advertisements and stores the advertisements in the advertisement cache.

24. The receiver apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the digital satellite receiver receives advertisements that are stored in the advertisement cache.

25. The receiver apparatus according to claim 24 , wherein the digital satellite receiver receives advertisements by tuning to a specified advertisement stream.