Bandwidth sharing

A method for bandwidth sharing between first and second satellite television networks in a satellite television system carried out at a first satellite television network receiver, in a manner consistent with certain embodiments involves receiving a shared video data stream shared between the first and second satellite television networks; receiving advertisement metadata forming a part of the shared video data stream, the advertisement meta-data containing identifying information that identifies the advertisement as being associated with one of the first and second satellite television networks; determining which of the first and second satellite television networks the advertisement is associated with by reading the identifying information; if the first satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement, then outputting the advertisement as a video signal; and if the second satellite television network is identified as associated with the advertisement, then identifying an advertisement that is possibly stored in an advertisement cache, retrieving the advertisement from the advertisement cache and outputting the stored advertisement as a video signal. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.