System and method for selecting and accessing portions of information streams from a television

An improved television is capable of demultiplexing, selecting and distributing information streams of different types of information to the television and to one or more television companion devices (TCDs). The television has a television antenna for receiving a broadcast signal having one or more types of information. Each information type has one or more segments. The television further has a transmitter for transmitting a communication signal to one or more television companion devices. The types of information can include any one or more of the following: a video channel, an audio channel, a data channel, one or more graphical images, and/or one or more animated images. The segments can include any one or more of the following: an audio clip or audio program, a video segment or video program, a still image, animation, graphics, 3D images, and/or a stream of text. The television communicates with the TCDs via a communication link. When the television communicates with the TCDs, it embeds an address into the message which identifies one or more of the TCDs to be the recipient of the message. Information streams and segments which are to be cutput by the television and/or one or more TCDs are selected by a selector that selects two or more segments from one or more of the types of information where one or more of the segments is displayed, e.g. on the television, and one or more of the segments are transmitted to one or more television, companion devices. In an alternative embodiment, if the automatic selection of information is desired, a Profile Subsystem which contains a profile of profile items in a database of information of interest to the viewer will control selection of one or more of the segments if the segments contain one or more profile items.