SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELIMINATING REDUNDANT LISTINGS IN AN ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE

摘要

A system and method for providing merged electronic program guides with redundant listings removed. The television system receives EPG data of television programs broadcast by a plurality of program signal sources. Such signal sources may include OTA broadcast, cable, satellite, and the like. Either the television system or a merging system separate from the television system receives EPG data including program scheduling information of television programs telecast from the various signal sources. The system further receives channel mapping information for each of the signal sources. The channel mapping information relates television channels to television stations carried by the signal sources. The system creates a merged channel map based on the channel mapping information with any duplicate television station listings removed. Each television channel is associated with a unique channel identifier. Duplicate television station listings are therefore identified by identifying duplicate channel identifiers. Duplicate television station listings may be eliminated based on a priority associated with the various signal sources, or based on the signal quality of the various sources.