Our general streaming technology explainer covers the basics of encoding and delivery. This article focuses specifically on how live IPTV channels work.
Unicast delivery
Unlike broadcast TV, which sends one signal to everyone at once, most IPTV uses unicast delivery — a separate stream connection for each viewer. This is what makes on-demand style flexibility possible, at the cost of more server-side bandwidth per viewer.
The live channel pipeline
- A live source feed is captured.
- It's encoded in real time into a streamable format.
- It's split into segments per the HLS protocol.
- A CDN distributes those segments to viewers.
Why live streams have a delay
Buffering a few segments ahead adds resilience but also introduces a delay between the real-world moment and what you see — typically a handful of seconds to under a minute, depending on the provider's configuration.
If you're troubleshooting playback issues specifically, see our buffering checklist.