From: barmar@alum.mit.edu   
      
   In article <7ce52f7f-f324-4a92-b35d-594bdd70d3b4@googlegroups.com>,   
    groovee@cyberdude.com wrote:   
      
   > Ok, so if I have a WiFi router in my house and there are 2 people in the   
   > house BOTH watching the same TV program broadcasted from say, China,   
   > individually (say one on a computer, one on a phone), surely there is only   
   > ONE data stream coming from China to the Fiber router? Which then gets split   
   > into 2, one for each person? Please don't tell me there are TWO separate   
   > connections from the transmitting server for each stream?   
      
   Sorry to disappoint you.   
      
   While there are multicast protocols that will send a single stream that   
   multiple clients can subscribe to, I don't think they're in common use   
   by streaming services.   
      
   It's pretty rare that multiple clients are watching the same program at   
   exactly the same time, so that they can share a single stream. Streaming   
   is an "on demand" service, not like broadcast where everyone has to   
   watch the program when the network chooses to send it.   
      
   --   
   Barry Margolin   
   Arlington, MA   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)