How Does IPTV Work?

 There are three different IPTV formats. We’ll take a look at each one individually.

Video on Demand (VOD)

VOD streaming is exactly what it sounds like; you get video whenever you demand it. Movie-streaming sites are VOD services. There’s no time limit on what you can watch (other than what the service currently has the rights for).

You tell the service what you want to watch, they send it to you via the internet, and you watch it. Simple.

Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video are popular examples of Over-The-Top (OTT) video streaming services. (There are many smaller, niche services available, as well.)

Time-shifted media

If you’ve watched “catch-up TV,” you’re familiar with this type of IPTV. Many broadcast networks now allow users to watch shows that they missed when they have the time to do it.

The important difference between time-shifted media and VOD is that the content being shared has a limited shelf life. You can’t go back and watch an episode of a show that you missed several years ago (well, you could, but it would be VOD then).

One of the most popular services that offer time-shifted media is BBC’s iPlayer.

(If you think that VOD and time-shifted media-sound very similar, you’re right. It mostly has to do with how long you’re able to watch a show after it airs.)

Live IPTV

Like broadcast TV, you can also watch shows live on IPTV. Many people watch sporting events this way; it’s easy to stream a game on your phone while you’re on the go.

Other than being broadcast over the internet instead of through traditional cable TV media, live IPTV is pretty much the same as regular TV.

FOX Sports Go, CBS Sports HQ, Hulu Live TV, and Sling TV all offer live IPTV.

IPTV Services

While IPTV is definitely getting bigger, it’s still a pretty niche market. Services like Netflix and Hulu offer a lot of TV shows (when they can get the rights to them), and video on demand is growing quickly.

It’s the other formats of IPTV, where there’s a significant potential for changing how people watch TV, that have yet to take off.

Catch-up TV is becoming more popular. Downloading apps for providers like FOX, CBS, and NBC let viewers see the shows they missed without the effort it takes to set up and record something via a set-top box like a TiVo.

NOW TV, TVPlayer, and Epicstream are all making headway into the live IPTV market, but they’re still not as mainstream as more popular VOD services.

Sports seems to be the area of TV that’s most quickly embraced IPTV. There are plenty of subscription sports packages that you can watch from your computer or stream to your TV whenever you want.

But it’s a safe bet that the rest of the live television world will be right behind.

Many services are popping up that allow users to create their own VOD and live-streaming services, too. That way people can share their skills, advice, and passions with anyone else in the world (you can see how some people are using Uscreen to do this on our Examples page).