Basic data transfer question

[g***@cyberdude.com]

Ok, so if I have a WiFi router in my house and there are 2 people in the house BOTH watching the same TV program broadcasted from say, China, individually (say one on a computer, one on a phone), surely there is only ONE data stream coming from China to the Fiber router? Which then gets split into 2, one for each person? Please don't tell me there are TWO separate connections from the transmitting server for each stream?

Thanks.

[Barry Margolin]

Post by g***@cyberdude.com
Ok, so if I have a WiFi router in my house and there are 2 people in the
house BOTH watching the same TV program broadcasted from say, China,
individually (say one on a computer, one on a phone), surely there is only
ONE data stream coming from China to the Fiber router? Which then gets split
into 2, one for each person? Please don't tell me there are TWO separate
connections from the transmitting server for each stream?

Sorry to disappoint you.

While there are multicast protocols that will send a single stream that
multiple clients can subscribe to, I don't think they're in common use
by streaming services.

It's pretty rare that multiple clients are watching the same program at
exactly the same time, so that they can share a single stream. Streaming
is an "on demand" service, not like broadcast where everyone has to
watch the program when the network chooses to send it.