System and method for managing program assets

1. A method of operating a headend of a communications system storing program content in memory for later transmission to respective terminals at user locations, wherein respective program content has respective expiration dates beyond which a right granted by a source of the respective program content to transmit the respective program content by the headend expires, the method comprising:

receiving selections from terminals for respective stored program content for later viewing;

checking by the headend an expiration date of respective program content, the expiration date being provided by the source of the respective program content;

checking by the headend whether the respective program content has a pending selection for later viewing;

determining whether the source has authorized transmission of the respective program content after the expiration date, if transmission starts prior to the expiration date; and

adding the predetermined period of time to the expiration date to determine the deletion date if the source has authorized said transmission; or

subtracting the predetermined period of time from the expiration date to determine the deletion date if the source has not authorized said transmission; and

deleting the respective program content, by the headend from memory based, at least in part, on the deletion date.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

deleting the respective program content if:

the expiration date is later than or equal to the current date; and

the respective program content does not have a pending selection.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:

deleting the respective program content if:

the expiration date is later than or equal to the current date;

the respective program content does not have a pending selection; and

the expiration date is within a predetermined time interval of the current date.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

deleting the respective program content if:

the respective program content has not been selected for later viewing by a predetermined date.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

deleting the respective program content based, at least in part, on a deletion date, the deletion date being a function of the expiration date and a predetermined period of time.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the predetermined period of time is based, at least in part, on a length of the respective program content.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein respective program content containing previously broadcast content is stored in a first location, an asset comprising a first pointer to a respective program content is stored in a second location, expiration information associated with the content is stored in a third location, and the asset further comprises a second pointer to the respective expiration information, the method further comprising:

identifying the asset;

locating the expiration information based on the second pointer in the asset; and

determining the expiration date corresponding to the respective program content based, at least in part, on the expiration information.

8. The method claim 1 , wherein the headend is part of a cable television network, the source of the respective program content is a broadcast source, and the respective program content comprises broadcast content, the method further comprising:

receiving broadcast content from the broadcast source by the headend;

delivering the broadcast content to terminals at user locations, through the cable television network, at respective air dates in accordance with a broadcast schedule, by the headend; and

storing portions of the broadcast content for delivery to respective users on demand, by the headend.

9. A communications system for storing program content for later transmission to terminals at user locations, wherein respective program content has respective expiration dates beyond which a right granted by a source of the respective program content to transmit the respective program content expires, the communications system comprising:

means for receiving selections from terminals for respective stored program content for later viewing;

means for checking an expiration date of respective program content, the expiration date being provided by the source of the program content;

means for checking whether the respective program content has a pending selection; and

means for deleting the respective the program content, based, at least in part, on the expiration date, whether the respective program content has a pending selection, and a predetermined period of time based, at least in part, on a length of the respective program.

10. A headend of a communications system to store program content for later transmission to terminals at user locations, wherein respective program content has respective expiration dates beyond which a right granted by a source of the respective program content to transmit the respective program content expires, the headend comprising:

memory to store assets; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being programmed to:

receive selections from terminals for respective stored assets for later viewing;

check an expiration date of an asset, the expiration date being provided by the source of the respective program content;

check whether the asset has a pending selection for later viewing by a respective terminal;

determine whether the source has authorized transmission of the respective program content after the expiration date, if transmission starts prior to the expiration date; and

add the predetermined period of time to the expiration date to determine the deletion date if the source has authorized said transmission; or

subtract the predetermined period of time from the expiration date to determine the deletion date if the source has not authorized said transmission; and

delete the asset, including the program content, based, at least in part, on the deletion date.

11. The headend of claim 10 , wherein the processor is programmed to:

delete the respective program content if:

the expiration date is later than or equal to the current date; and

the respective program content has not been selected.

12. The headend of claim 10 , wherein the processor is programmed to delete the respective program content if:

the expiration date is later than or equal to the current date;

the respective program content has not been selected; and

the expiration date is within a predetermined time interval of the current date.

13. The headend of claim 12 , wherein the predetermined period of time is based, at least in part, on a length of the respective program content.

14. The headend of claim 10 , wherein the processor is programmed to delete the respective program content if:

the respective program content has not been selected by a predetermined date.

15. The headend of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

delete the respective program content based, at least in part, on a deletion date, the deletion date being a function of the expiration date and a predetermined period of time.

16. The headend of claim 10 , wherein respective program content is stored in a first location, an asset comprising a first pointer to a respective program content is stored in a second location, expiration information associated with the content is stored in a third location, and the asset further comprises a second pointer to the respective expiration information, the processor being programmed to:

identify the asset;

locate the expiration information based on the second pointer in the asset; and

determine the expiration date corresponding to the respective program content based, at least in part, on the expiration information.

17. The headend of claim 10 , wherein the headend is part of a cable television network, the source of the respective program content is a broadcast source, and respective program content comprises broadcast content, the headend further comprising:

an interface to receive broadcast content from the broadcast source; and

a mechanism to deliver the broadcast content to terminals at user locations, through the cable television network, at respective air dates in accordance with a broadcast schedule;

wherein the processor is further programmed to:

record the broadcast content and store portions of the recorded broadcast content for delivery to respective users on demand.

18. A method of operating a distributer of program content, the distributer storing respective program content in memory for later transmission to respective terminals at user locations, wherein the respective program content has respective expiration dates beyond which a right granted by a source of the respective program content to transmit the respective program content by the distributor expires, the distributor comprising a processing device, the method comprising:

receiving selections from terminals for respective stored program content for later viewing;

checking by the processing device an expiration date of respective program content;

checking by the processing device whether the respective program content has a pending selection for later viewing; and

deleting the respective program content, by the processing device based, at least in part, on the expiration date, whether there is the pending selection for the respective program content for later viewing, and a predetermined period of time based, at least in part, on a length of the respective program content.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising;

delaying deletion if there is a pending selection.

20. The method of claim 18 , comprising:

deleting the respective program content if:

the expiration date is later than or equal to a current date;

the respective program content does not have a pending selection; and

the expiration date is within a predetermined time interval of the current date.

21. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

deleting the respective program content based, at least in part, on a deletion date, the deletion date being a function of the expiration date and the predetermined period of time.

22. The method of claim 18 , wherein the respective program content is provided to the distributor by a source of program content separate from the distributer, the method further comprising:

determining whether the source has authorized transmission of the respective program content after the expiration date, if transmission starts prior to the expiration date; and

adding the predetermined period of time to the expiration date to determine the deletion date if the source has authorized said transmission; or

subtracting the predetermined period of time from the expiration date to determine the deletion date if the source has not authorized said transmission.

23. The method of claim 18 , wherein the program content comprises broadcast content, the method further comprising:

receiving broadcast content from a broadcast source by the headend of a cable television network;

storing portions of the broadcast content for delivery to respective users on demand; and

delivering the portions of the broadcast content to terminals at user locations, through the cable television network, at respective air dates in accordance with a broadcast schedule, by the headend.

24. A distributor of program content, the distributor storing respective program content for later transmission to terminals at user locations, wherein the respective program content has respective expiration dates beyond which a right granted by a source of the respective program content to transmit the respective program content expires, the distributor comprising:

memory to store respective program content; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being programmed to:

receive selections from terminals for respective program content for later viewing;

check an expiration date of respective program content, wherein the expiration date is provided by the source of the respective program content;

check whether the respective program content has a pending selection for later viewing by a respective terminal; and

delete the respective program content based, at least in part, on the expiration date, whether the respective program content has a pending selection, and a predetermined period of time based, at least in part, on a length of the respective program.

25. The distributor of claim 24 , wherein the processor is programmed to delay deletion of respective program content with a pending selection.

26. The distributor of claim 24 , wherein the processor is programmed to delete the respective program content if:

the expiration date is later than or equal to the current date;

the respective program content has not been selected; and

the expiration date is within a predetermined time interval of the current date.

27. The distributor of claim 24 , wherein the processor is programmed to:

delete the respective program content based, at least in part, on a deletion date, the deletion date being a function of the expiration date and the predetermined period of time.

28. The distributor of claim 24 , the processor is further programmed to:

determine whether the source has authorized transmission of the respective program content after the expiration date, if transmission starts prior to the expiration date; and

add the predetermined period of time to the expiration date to determine the deletion date if the source has authorized said transmission; or

subtract the predetermined period of time from the expiration date to determine the deletion date if the source has not authorized said transmission.

29. The distributor of claim 24 , further comprising:

an interface to receive broadcast content from a broadcast source; and

a mechanism to deliver the broadcast content to terminals at user locations, through the cable television network, at respective air dates in accordance with a broadcast schedule;

wherein the processor is further programmed to:

record the broadcast content and store the recorded broadcast content for delivery to respective users on demand.