[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]
Internet channel broadcasting is an architecture that enables World Wide Web sites to be collected, packaged, and then broadcast to multiple subscribers simultaneously.
Currently, the Web operates on a one-to-one basis. Each user who wants to view a site must create a separate connection to that site. If too many users try to access a site at the same time, the server is unable to handle all of the requests. In contrast, Internet channel broadcasting operates on a one-to-many basis. Web sites are broadcast to many users at once and stored in each user's cache until the user is ready to view them.
The Microsoft® Internet Channel Server runs as a service on the Microsoft® Windows NT® Server operating system, version 4.0 or greater. You can administer the server to automatically collect, package, and broadcast Internet channels, also know as Channel Definition Format files. Because the server uses broadcast technology, the channels can be multicast to many users at once.