On next-generation telco-managed P2P TV architectures

In recent years, Telcos worldwide have deployed IPTV networks to offer cable TV-like services over the IP backbones. Such walled garden IPTV networks are provisioned to guarantee the quality of service, fast channel switching, and user experience expected by TV viewers. A common key design element of these networks is the use of IP multicast within a single network domain in broadcasting of several hundreds of TV channels to millions of receivers. However, as the amount of content and channels increase and users demand more interactive and asynchronous viewing, current IPTV architectures are showing clear limitations. In this paper, we study next-generation Telco-managed IPTV architectures, where P2P distributed systems are integrated in Telco’s TV set-top boxes or home gateways. We explore how P2P can complement existing Telco-managed IPTV architectures to support advanced rewind functionalities and whether P2P can substitute IP multicast solutions towards supporting a potentially unlimited number of live channels. To this extent, we analyze the TV viewing behavior of a quarter million users using real traces from one of the largest Telco-managed IPTV networks in the world and show the synergistic strengths and the potential for various P2P IPTV combined architectures.