Abstract: Content protection for digital recording may be provided through the use of digital keys that are unique to specific devices and/or to devices associated with specific household and/or business dwellings. According to an exemplary embodiment, a method for enabling digital recording using a signal receiving apparatus and a digital recording apparatus is provided. The method includes steps of receiving a digital key unique to the signal receiving apparatus, receiving broadcast signals, encrypting the broadcast signals using the digital key to generate encrypted digital data, and providing the encrypted digital data to the digital recording apparatus.

Abstract: A television system for receiving a plurality of digitally-encoded television programs includes circuitry for selecting a particular digital data transmission channel from a plurality of digital data transmission channels containing a desired digitally-encoded television program in response to a control signal, at least one of the data transmission channels also including television program schedule data. The system also includes user-operable data entry circuitry for entering data, and a controller for generating the above-noted control signal in response to user-entered data. The controller selects a virtual channel from a plurality of virtual channels in response to user-entered data, each virtual channel being subject to reassignment to a different one of said a plurality of digital data transmission channels, the television program schedule data defining the relationship of each of the television programs to respective ones of the plurality of digital data transmission channels.