TV Guide On Screen for digital cable set top boxes premiered in the DigiCable series of set top boxes from General Instrument shortly thereafter.
TV Guide On Screen and Prevue Guide were later merged. Telecommunications Inc, owner of Liberty Media, acquired United Video Satellite Group, owner of Prevue Guide, in 1995. The joint venture introduced an interactive program guide to the market in late 1995 in the General Instrument CFT2200 set top cable box. Leading competitors to TV Guide On Screen included Prevue Guide and Starsight Telecast.
The JV was led by video game veteran, Bruce Davis. TV Guide Magazine and Liberty Media established a joint venture in 1992 known as TV Guide On Screen to develop an EPG. This patent concerned the implementation of a searchable electronic program guide – an interactive program guide (IPG). In June 1988, US 4751578 was awarded to Eli Reiter, Michael H. A presentation on the system was given at the 1990 IEEE consumer electronics symposium in Chicago. Available in North America, it was the first commercially available unit for home use that had a locally stored guide integrated with the receiver for single button viewing and taping. This unit also had a single button recording function, and controlled VCRs via an infrared output (see US 5293357 ). When the user found the show of interest, they pressed a button on the remote and the receiver tuned to the show they wanted to watch. This version had a color display and the hardware was based on a custom chip it was also able to disseminate up to two weeks of programming information. In March 1990, a second generation SuperGuide system was introduced that was integrated into the Uniden 4800 receiver. Television-based IPGs in conjunction with Programme Delivery Control (PDC) technology can also facilitate the selection of TV shows for recording with digital video recorders (DVRs), also known as personal video recorders (PVRs).
A typical IPG provides information covering a span of seven or 14 days.ĭata used to populate an interactive EPG may be distributed over the Internet, either for a charge or free of charge, and implemented on equipment connected directly or through a computer to the Internet. Its interactive menus are generated entirely within local receiving or display equipment using raw scheduling data sent by individual broadcast stations or centralized scheduling information providers. An IPG allows television viewers and radio listeners to navigate scheduling information menus interactively, selecting and discovering programming by time, title, channel or genre using an input device such as a keypad, computer keyboard or television remote control. By tuning into an EPG channel, a menu is displayed that lists current and upcoming television shows on all available channels.Ī more modern form of the EPG, associated with both television and radio broadcasting, is the interactive programming guide (IPG, though often referred to as EPG).
EPGs are transmitted by specialized video character generation (CG) equipment housed within each such provider's central headend facility. Non-interactive electronic programming guides (sometimes known as "navigation software") are typically available for television and radio, and consist of a digitally displayed, non-interactive menu of programming scheduling information shown by a cable or satellite television provider to its viewers on a dedicated channel. They are commonly known as guides or TV guides. Some guides also feature backward scrolling to promote their catch up content. Electronic programming guide interface in MythTV.Įlectronic programming guides ( EPGs) and interactive programming guides ( IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for current and upcoming broadcast programming (most commonly, TV listings).