A reality check on a P2P-based IPTV system from the operator's perspective

This paper conducts a summarized reality check of a P2P-based IPTV system from the operator's perspective (NextTV) through the analysis of large-scale operational data. NextTV is an IPTV system by a leading Asia media company based in Taiwan — NextMedia, in which P2P delivery mechanism is adopted to deal with system and network scalability issues for popular videos. This paper contributes by revealing 1) the relationship between the user properties and video popularity and 2) how effective the P2P mechanism is in the IPTV system for popular videos with different user properties. The results demonstrate a successful showcase of using the P2P delivery mechanism for IPTV services by analyzing the real operational data of all users. The approach is different from many previous works which has used simulations, test-beds and traffic measurements of an incomplete collection of users. The results potentially helps the design of the next generation of the P2P delivery mechanism for IPTV services.