IPTV stands for internet protocol television. IPTV is typically supplied by a service provider using a closed network infrastructure. An IPTV network consists of four major components.

The operation and the significance of each of these components can be stated as follows. The content we obtain from different sources is referred to as raw data. These raw data are required to be processed before it is delivered to the customer. In order to reduce the bandwidth consumption the data is being encoded. There are many standards and technologies available for encoding e.g. MPEG2,MPEG4,H.264 etc. The processed data is then fed into the service providers’ distribution network. The distribution network generally deployed is an optical network. Then it connects to the access network which connects the subscriber to the service providers’ network. The access network could be any type with a constraint being imposed to as the bandwidth should be available so that a specific QoS level (e.g. DVD quality viewing experience) is provided and maintained. The data being still encoded at the customer premises data decoding should happen so as the original data is retrieved. The access network interfaces with a STB at the customer end for this function. The STB is connected to the TV set and it is also possible to have a network at the customer premises as well.