Abstract: An approach is provided for injecting program markers in live media steams is presented. A first marker is injected into a live media stream to designate a start of a live program. A second marker is injected a into the live media stream to designate an end of the live program. The live stream with the injected markers is transcoded the for transmission to a set-top box.

Abstract: The television program scheduling system receives from one or more published data sources, historical audience data for previous telecasts of the shows on one or more television networks, and calibrates a model for audience rating estimation based on the historical audience data. The calibrated model for audience rating estimation may be utilized to generate estimates or projections of audience in the future. The television program scheduling system may generate an optimal schedule assignment of the shows to time periods that maximizes total resulting estimated audience based on the calibrated model for audience rating estimation. The generation utilizes a time expanded network in which each node represents an assignment of a show to a specific time period, with a specific stacking, and preceded by a lead-in show, and a feasible transition between two nodes represents a valid transition between two shows.