49. A method comprising: receiving a stream of data contained in signals that are broadcast on a multiplexed channel of a broadcast network; extracting a stream of textual data from the received stream of data, wherein the stream of textual data is synchronized with the received stream of data; searching the stream of textual data for occurrences of textual data matching one or more search terms, the searching the stream of textual data for occurrences of textual data matching one or more search terms further comprising: comparing the stream of textual data to both an active list and a passive list, the active list comprising one or more first character strings as first search terms obtained from input entered by a viewer; the passive list comprising one or more second character strings as second search terms that have been extracted one or more times from one or more previously received streams of textual data of previously received streams of data that the viewer has viewed or recorded, the one or more second character strings being extracted based on a frequency of occurrence in the previously received textual data; and the comparing including determining whether a number of matches of the first search terms of the active list and the second search terms of the passive list with the textual data exceeds a threshold number, wherein when the number of matches of the first search terms of the active list and the second search terms of the passive list does not exceed the threshold number after a predetermined period of time, ceasing to search a first closed captioning stream of textual data from a first channel before an end of the first closed captioning stream is reached, deleting the corresponding content programming from the buffer, and searching instead a second closed captioning stream of textual data from a second channel; and outputting a notification when the number of matches of the first search terms of the active list and the second search terms of the passive list in comparison with the textual data exceeds the threshold number indicating that content programming determined to be of interest to the viewer has been located.
49. A method comprising: receiving a stream of data contained in signals that are broadcast on a multiplexed channel of a broadcast network; extracting a stream of textual data from the received stream of data, wherein the stream of textual data is synchronized with the received stream of data; searching the stream of textual data for occurrences of textual data matching one or more search terms, the searching the stream of textual data for occurrences of textual data matching one or more search terms further comprising: comparing the stream of textual data to both an active list and a passive list, the active list comprising one or more first character strings as first search terms obtained from input entered by a viewer; the passive list comprising one or more second character strings as second search terms that have been extracted one or more times from one or more previously received streams of textual data of previously received streams of data that the viewer has viewed or recorded, the one or more second character strings being extracted based on a frequency of occurrence in the previously received textual data; and the comparing including determining whether a number of matches of the first search terms of the active list and the second search terms of the passive list with the textual data exceeds a threshold number, wherein when the number of matches of the first search terms of the active list and the second search terms of the passive list does not exceed the threshold number after a predetermined period of time, ceasing to search a first closed captioning stream of textual data from a first channel before an end of the first closed captioning stream is reached, deleting the corresponding content programming from the buffer, and searching instead a second closed captioning stream of textual data from a second channel; and outputting a notification when the number of matches of the first search terms of the active list and the second search terms of the passive list in comparison with the textual data exceeds the threshold number indicating that content programming determined to be of interest to the viewer has been located. 51. The method as defined in claim 49 , further comprising applying a greater weight to the first search terms in the active list than a weight applied to the second search terms in the passive list when counting the number of matches.