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by beznet 2347 days ago
I might be living under a rock, but what is IPTV? Even a Google search on it makes me scratch my head. I use Netflix, Hulu, etc but those have always been referred to as 'Streaming Services' , are those somehow categorized in the IPTV umbrella?
4 comments

IPTV subscriptions are an alternative to regular cable tv subscriptions. It's linear tv streamed over the internet instead of it being delivered to you by your cable provider.

It's used for many reasons, but I personally got a subscription at an IPTV provider to be able to offer my French girlfriend to keep watching her French TV channels while living in the Netherlands.

That said, my service does not offer IPTV, simply an editor to users who already have their own IPTV subscription.

I'm surprised enough IPTV users would want to pay for a service like this, especially if IPTV is mostly pirated content (sorry if that's not an accurate description).
The ones called IPTV are the ones with really questionable sources, in my experience. I'm not sure how the term IPTV became synonymous with that.
Well, in short, it's "normal" TV over IP, so I think it makes sense. I'm pretty sure providers around in Europe, when it first launched, also called it IPTV, and the "pirates" were quick to copy that naming.
When you get a home internet access in France, it usually comes with phone and TV.

I guess IPTV was coined to adress TV via Internet, as opposed to over the air (we do not have cable here)