Over-the-top media services

Over the top (OTT) is a media distribution practice that allows a streaming content provider to sell audio, video, and other media services directly to the consumer over the internet via streaming media as a standalone product, bypassing telecommunications, cable or broadcast television service providers that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.

In 2011, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) stated that it "considers that Internet access to programming independent of a facility or network dedicated to its delivery (via, for example, cable or satellite) is the defining feature of what have been termed 'over-the-top' services".

In contrast to video on demand video-delivery systems offered by cable and IPTV, which are tightly managed networks where channels can be changed instantly, some OTT services such as iTunes require that the video be downloaded first and then played, while other OTT players such as Apple TV, Amazon Unbox or Netflix offer movie downloads that start playing before the download completes (streaming).

The FCC categorizes the OTT services into two groups: multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs); and online video distributors (OVDs).

MVPDs include such varied services as DirecTV Now, Sling TV, Verizon FiOS CBS All Access and AT&T U-verse.

An OVD was defined by the FCC as:

any entity that provides video programming by means of the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP)-based transmission path where the transmission path is provided by a person other than the OVD. An OVD does not include an MVPD inside its MVPD footprint or an MVPD to the extent it is offering online video programming as a component of an MVPD subscription to customers whose homes are inside its MVPD footprint.

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