1. A method comprising searching for a keyword in compressed electronic program guide (EPG) data that includes a plurality of television programs, each television program having one or more encoding values, each encoding value encoding at least a portion of a value that describes a television program characteristic, the searching including: comparing the keyword with a plurality of words in a table, the table including a plurality of word encoding values, each word encoding value referencing one word in the table, and each word encoding value having a matching predetermined amount of bits, one to another, wherein: examining encoding values in the compressed EPG data that have the matching predetermined amount of bits to find the keyword when the keyword matches one of the plurality of words in the table; and examining encoding values in the compressed EPG data that do not have the matching predetermined amount of bits to find the keyword when the keyword does not match any of the plurality of words in the table; and outputting a value that includes the keyword when the value that describes the television program characteristic that includes the keyword is found.