SRT delivery: encrypted contribution feeds for your headend
One encrypted stream per channel, straight into the equipment you already run. SRT carries the full transport stream: every audio track, every subtitle, the programme structure. It recovers its own packet loss and needs nothing more than an internet connection at your end. It is how most of our 1612 channels leave the headend.
How the feed reaches you
Each channel is captured at the core site nearest its source: satellite downlink, a broadcaster's contribution feed, or a playout we run. It is normalised and encrypted for delivery. When you order, the channel is provisioned from the two core sites closest to you, and you receive a host, a port and a passphrase per channel.
Your receiver either dials us (caller) or listens for us (listener); where both ends sit behind NAT, rendezvous mode connects them without a firewall change. What arrives is an ordinary MPEG transport stream, so your existing headend, transcoder or multiplexer treats it exactly as it treats a satellite feed today.
If your site expects UDP multicast rather than SRT, our player appliance or our playout software converts it on site. This is the same conversion hotels and campuses use, with nothing else installed. Discover our software here
What you get, technically
| Transport | SRT 1.5, caller, listener or rendezvous, whichever your firewall prefers |
|---|---|
| Encryption | AES-256 with a per-channel passphrase, rotated on request |
| Container | MPEG-TS, programme structure, original audio tracks and subtitles preserved |
| Video | Up to 1080p25, CBR up to 12 Mbps per channel |
| Latency | Under 400 ms glass-to-glass on a normal European path |
| Loss recovery | ARQ with a configurable latency window, typically 2.5× the RTT |
| Origins | Two core sites per channel, independent paths, automatic failover |
| Monitoring | Per-channel bitrate, continuity counters and loss, alarmed 24/7 |
Why SRT rather than the alternatives
Against satellite
No dish, no LNB, no rack, no per-site engineer and no weather. A channel is provisioned in software, and adding a second site is a configuration change rather than a capital project.
Against a leased line
SRT runs over the public internet and recovers its own losses, so you get contribution quality without ordering a circuit per affiliate. Where a guaranteed path is genuinely required we quote one, but most operators never need it.
Against RTMP
RTMP is single-audio, TCP-bound and effectively deprecated upstream. SRT keeps every audio track and subtitle, survives packet loss without stalling, and carries the full transport stream your headend already expects.
Against pulling HLS / DASH
HLS / DASH is the right hand-off for players, not for a headend: segmenting adds seconds of latency and strips the transport structure. Take SRT into the headend, and let us do the ABR packaging only where you actually serve players.
Round trip from your site
Which of our points serves you fastest?
| Point of presence | Role | Distance | RTT | Jitter | Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LondonUK | edge | 0 km | 4 ms | 0.4 ms | 0.00 % |
| LilleFR | edge | 243 km | 7 ms | 0.7 ms | 0.00 % |
| ManchesterUK | edge | 261 km | 7 ms | 0.4 ms | 0.00 % |
| AmsterdamNL | edge | 358 km | 8 ms | 0.3 ms | 0.00 % |
Estimated from great-circle distance and our routing table. Ask the NOC for a live probe from your own prefix before you sign.
Get it instant
Pick channels in the catalogue, choose SRT, and order online. We confirm the rights for your territory and platform, then issue endpoints within 12 hours. There is no sales call, no set-up fee, and 30 days notice on a monthly contract. Volume discounts start at ten channels, and a 24-month term takes 15% off on top.
To test first, take the free three-day trial: one channel, both hand-offs, full bitrate, real EPG, no card.
Questions engineers ask first
What do we need at our end to receive an SRT feed?
Anything that speaks SRT: a hardware receiver, a software gateway, or our own player appliance. You give us a host and port, or you pull from ours; caller, listener and rendezvous are all supported, so a NAT or a strict firewall is not a blocker.
How much bandwidth does a channel need?
Plan for the channel bitrate plus about 20% headroom for ARQ retransmission. A 1080i channel at 8 Mbps is comfortable on 10 Mbps of clean capacity; where the link is thin we can deliver a lower CBR profile instead of dropping the channel.
What happens when the internet path degrades?
ARQ retransmits inside the latency window, so brief loss is invisible. Sustained loss shows up in our monitoring before it shows up on screen, and each channel has a second origin at another core site if the first path stops recovering.
Can we take SRT and HLS / DASH for the same channel?
Yes. Many customers take SRT into the headend and adaptive HLS / DASH for their apps. Both are billed per channel per month, EUR 150 for SRT and EUR 200 for adaptive HLS / DASH.
How quickly can a feed be live?
Endpoints are issued the same working day once the rights for your territory and platform are confirmed. The free three-day trial issues both an SRT endpoint and an HLS / DASH manifest for one channel, without a card.