MainStreaming builds a future that is Better Together
September 2, 2026 10.39 Europe/London By Julian Clover


A new approach is emerging for broadcasters seeking to retain the control they have traditionally enjoyed over terrestrial transmission while improving quality of experience (QoE) and strengthening the resilience of regional infrastructure.

It is part of a wider challenge facing broadcasters, internet service providers (ISPs) and infrastructure companies as audiences increasingly turn to streaming services for both live and on demand content. Traditional delivery models based on centralised content delivery networks (CDNs) are coming under pressure from growing traffic volumes, expectations of low latency and the unpredictable demand generated by live events.

MainStreaming’s response is built around its ‘Better Together’ ecosystem model, through which broadcasters, ISPs and technology partners collaborate to create more resilient and efficient streaming infrastructure.

By placing video delivery capacity directly within ISP networks and combining private and hybrid edge architectures, MainStreaming allows content providers to deliver streams closer to their audiences. This can improve QoE while increasing scalability and operational efficiency.

The approach has appealed to broadcasters including ITV, which recently added MainStreaming to its multi-CDN setup to support the delivery of ITVX’s on demand catalogue, live channels and news coverage.

The agreement forms part of ITV’s long-term streaming strategy. The broadcaster delivered more than 400 million streams in July 2026 and expects demand to continue rising as it moves further towards becoming a digital-first business.

MainStreaming’s partnership with BT was a key factor in ITV’s decision. By delivering content closer to viewers through BT’s broadband network, ITV aims to improve picture quality, scalability and efficiency for a significant proportion of its audience.

That model is also being extended through MainStreaming’s ongoing collaboration with Deutsche Telekom’s T Wholesale, which combines edge video delivery capacity with the operator’s global connectivity footprint. The two companies will use IBC to share the latest developments of the partnership.

“We are on-net inside Deutsche Telekom’s network. Not peering, not transit, but our infrastructure is embedded directly within the operator’s architecture,” said Dan Racioppa, SVP Revenue at MainStreaming. “That gives us control of the delivery path itself and removes the unpredictability of third-party routing decisions, which is what allows media companies to keep control of their own streaming performance during the most demanding live events. Whether it is a major sporting event, breaking news or a live entertainment broadcast, audiences expect the same seamless experience regardless of how many people are watching.

“We are proud to keep growing our collaboration with T Wholesale, and we look forward to presenting the next stage of that work at IBC.”

MainStreaming’s fully managed private streaming infrastructure also allows operators and media companies to retain governance of their delivery ecosystems without having to handle the operational complexity themselves.

Dedicated private edge infrastructure can be deployed where it is most needed, helping customers improve QoE, resilience and cost efficiency while simplifying operations and giving them greater control over streaming performance.

This model turns streaming delivery from a significant infrastructure burden into a managed strategic capability. Broadcasters and operators can concentrate on content, audience growth and monetisation while retaining visibility and governance across their streaming operations.

Content security is another important consideration. Piracy remains a problem for every broadcaster and, while premium programming – particularly sport – tends to attract the most attention, all forms of content are potentially at risk from increasingly sophisticated piracy networks.

Recent cases have also demonstrated how legitimate broadcast material can be manipulated using artificial intelligence and redistributed as fake news, misinformation or propaganda. This presents a challenge not only for OTT providers seeking to protect subscription revenue, but also for free-to-air broadcasters and public service media organisations whose reputations depend on audience trust.

MainStreaming is approaching anti-piracy as both a content protection and trust protection challenge. Because monitoring and enforcement take place directly at the CDN and edge layers, suspicious traffic behaviour, redistribution patterns and other anomalies can be identified in real time without compromising the experience of legitimate viewers.

“Piracy and streaming reliability have become fundamentally interconnected,” said Sergio Carulli, CPO at MainStreaming. “Unauthorised traffic competes for the same bandwidth and delivery paths as paying audiences, and it tends to peak at the most critical moments of a live event. Protecting content is no longer only about safeguarding rights, it is about safeguarding the viewing experience itself.”

This edge-native approach supports faster mitigation, market-specific policies and tighter control over live distribution. It can help broadcasters protect their monetisation strategies as well as the integrity and authenticity of their streams.

At the same time, QoE is moving beyond traditional infrastructure measures such as uptime and latency towards a more viewer-centric model. Audiences accustomed to the reliability of broadcast television have little tolerance for buffering, delays or service interruptions when watching streamed content.

However, many broadcasters and streaming platforms continue to operate fragmented delivery ecosystems, with limited real-time visibility into what viewers are experiencing across different devices, networks and geographical regions.

Live programming can place these systems under a particular strain. This applies not only to major international sporting fixtures, but also to popular Saturday night Big Floor entertainment shows and other programmes capable of attracting large simultaneous audiences. These events generate sudden and often unpredictable traffic peaks that can overwhelm traditional delivery infrastructure, making effective capacity planning increasingly difficult.

MainStreaming’s approach centres on dedicated Private Edge Networks designed specifically for high-concurrency live streaming. By placing video delivery capacity within ISP and operator networks, content can be delivered closer to end users, supporting lower latency, stronger resilience and more consistent QoE during periods of peak demand.

Combined with real-time observation, traffic intelligence and closer collaboration across the delivery ecosystem, this approach is intended to create more sustainable, future-ready infrastructure for the next generation of premium live-streaming experiences.

That commitment extends beyond its own platform. MainStreaming has also joined the industry initiative OpenMOQ Software Consortium, contributing engineering expertise to the development of open-source software implementing the Internet Engineering Task Force’s Media over QUIC (MoQ) and QUIC standards. OpenMOQ brings leading technology companies together around a shared, open-source foundation for the next generation of media transport.