All things related to multicast

[Bill Owens <>]

On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 10:37:24AM -0800, Joe St Sauver wrote:
> 1) I'd argue it's (almost) all about content.
> 
> By way of example, some time ago I looked for songs I liked on Youtube, 
> obviously a non-IP multicast content source. Now admittedly I have what my 
> kids refer to as "dinosaur rock" tastes (the radio stations are more 
> sensitive to aging egos, and normally refer to my market niche as "classic 
> rock" listeners), but it was ALL there. Any band or song I looked for, I
> could find. 
> 
> Or consider Netflix or Hulu: not total coverage, but a LOT more content than
> IP multicast could ever offer.

I don't think that multicast has a role to play here; it's never been suited 
for applications with a broad catalog of content being served on demand. The 
best you could do would be a sort of streaming jukebox, and it was attempted 
a couple of times, but never caught on.

> 3) What does IP multicast availability look like in home broadband networks
> these days? Can I get IP multicast support from Comcast, Centurylink,
> Time Warner, and all the other "usual suspects" servicing home markets?

I have heard that some 'cable' companies use IP multicast to distribute 
streaming content within their networks; in that application it might make 
sense. In fact there are many ways that multicast can be used within a 
domain; it's only the inter-domain version that has never really found a use 
case. And in keeping with that, the companies who do use intra-domain 
multicast won't allow any of it to leak out, to their users or to their peers.

Bill.