The advent of high speed broadband and the growth of fibre optic delivery networks has seen a growth in online streaming services. Both audio and video content is streamed in increasingly larger volumes. YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Xbox, Blink box, Google Play, Flixster and Ultra Violet are all popular streaming services.
Real Networks were the pioneers of today’s modern video streaming services. Working as Progressive Networks they broadcast the world’s first live event in 1995. This event was a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees.
All high profile events are now broadcast using HTTP-based adaptive streaming (known as MPEG – DASH). New video codecs such as H.265 promise to deliver content with even higher qualities of compression. This should see streaming services retain their place in the mainstream.
