IPTV in Germany — a new way to watch TV

IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television: television delivered over an ordinary internet connection instead of cable, satellite or an aerial. Technically, the channels are sent to your device as data streams — the same way a web page or a video loads.

As a rough guide: around 5–8 Mbit/s for a Full HD stream and roughly 25 Mbit/s for 4K. What matters just as much is how stable the line is. A connection that fluctuates causes far more dropouts than one that is consistently a little slower.

Essentially anything that can run a suitable app: Smart TVs from Samsung and LG, Android TV and Google TV, the Amazon Fire TV Stick, Android phones, tablets and TV boxes, iPhone and iPad, plus PC and Mac.

Which app makes sense varies by device — message us and we will tell you what fits yours.

Buffering almost always comes down to one of four things: a weak or unstable connection to the router (usually Wi-Fi), a line that is congested at peak time, a device that cannot decode the video codec in hardware, or an overloaded server at the provider end.

The technology itself is entirely legal — major German providers and the public broadcasters use it themselves. What matters is whether the provider holds the rights to the content it transmits.

An offer that bundles premium sport and current pay-TV packages at a conspicuously low price generally does not hold those rights.

EPG is the electronic programme guide: the TV listings inside the app, showing what is on now and next for each channel. VOD stands for video on demand — films and series you can start whenever you like, independently of any schedule.