A system and method that provides a rule based randomized media content management system. The system includes a database that stores media content that is associated with category metadata that identifies content of the media content with corresponding categories. Moreover, a programming rules engine generates a list of approved media content based on business rules and a predictive rules engine generates media content selection characteristics based on media display device data and media consumption data associated with the viewer. Furthermore, a media content playlist engine is provided that generates a media content playlist by applying the generated media content selection characteristics to the list of approved media content to select media content, such that the resource consumption by the media display device is minimized by selecting media content that is targeted to the viewer of the media display device according to one or more business rules.