First it was CD. Then it was DVD. Now, it is cable-TV.
Recently, a couple of specialized computer programs have been developed to allow P2P streaming of cable-TV contents, such as ESPN and Discovery Channel, over the Internet. Anyone can now log on to the internet and watch ESPN without paying a dime to a cable-TV operator or ESPN.
P2P Streaming
Cable-TV streaming is not rocket science. The equipments required are a TV capture card, a personal computer and a reasonable broadband Internet connection. A subscriber of ESPN, for example, connects his set-top box to a personal computer through the TV capture card. Then the personal computer, running specialized computer programs, coverts cable-TV contents into Internet protocol (IP) data and broadcasts (streams) out to the Internet. The personal computer is now a broadcasting server.
