Was recently introduced to a streaming TV application that allows you to watch overseas channels. Turns out it is based on the popular BitTorrent technology for streaming. What’s interesting about this form is that it has inverse properties of traditional Internet broadcasting: In traditional (uni-)broadcasts, the less people watching, the better the quality. The more people watch, the quality drops. Using BT, the more people watch, the better is quality, since there are more peers on the network and everyone becomes a re-broadcaster.
It also just takes a simple subscriber to the desired channel service to be the source. Despite only one source, if the content is popular (such as soccer matches), the peers will quickly help to make the swarm very big. It also does not matter if the original source bandwidth is not that high. As long there are enough people in the swarm, and you have a good download bandwidth, it is more likely your stream will be served well by the other peers.