Over the last few months, we’ve been struggling with a fundamental question: What exactly is a “channel” that can appear as an option within FAST platform providers, be aggregated as options on other services, initiated on a mobile app, or on a website?

As streaming distribution has evolved, industry terminology has struggled to keep pace with the changing ways audiences access and consume programming. Terms such as AVOD, SVOD, FAST, and IPTV are often used interchangeably despite describing very different technologies, business models, and viewing experiences.

One of the most misunderstood areas involves the growing use of linear-style streaming channels delivered over the internet.

For simplicity, many companies and distributors refer to these services as “FAST channels.” While convenient, the term is not always technically accurate.

The acronym FAST — Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television — was originally created to describe platforms such as Pluto TV, Xumo, and Samsung TV Plus that distribute free, ad-supported linear programming over internet delivery systems. Over time, the term evolved beyond the platforms themselves and became informally associated with the individual channels distributed through them.

However, not all programmed streaming services fit neatly within the FAST classification.

To better define this evolving distribution model, I am introducing the term:

IPSP™

Internet-Delivered Pre-Programmed Streaming Playlist

IPSP™ describes a curated streaming presentation in which the distributor, rather than the viewer, determines the sequence and scheduling of programming delivered over internet-based streaming infrastructure.

This distinction is important.

Under traditional AVOD (Advertising Video On Demand) models, viewers individually select programs for playback. In an IPSP™ environment, the content is pre-programmed and, once the stream is initiated, continuously presented as a curated streaming experience, more closely resembling a programmed media feed than true on-demand consumption.

An IPSP™ stream may appear:

• on FAST platforms,
• on dedicated websites,
• within mobile apps,
• or through connected TV ecosystems.

The underlying programming model remains the same regardless of the distribution endpoint.

This distinction also helps separate the delivery architecture from the content experience itself. IPTV, for example, describes a transport and delivery method. FAST describes a platform and monetization ecosystem. IPSP™ specifically describes the programmed streaming presentation structure.

As streaming distribution continues to evolve, clearer terminology becomes increasingly important for content owners, distributors, platforms, advertisers, and industry organizations attempting to define how programming is packaged, delivered, monetized, and classified.

IPSP™ represents an effort to create a more technically accurate framework for describing curated internet-delivered programmed streaming experiences that exist outside traditional viewer-selected on-demand models.

The emergence of IPSP™ distribution also carries important implications for content rights, residual structures, and library monetization. Unlike traditional broadcast syndication or viewer-directed on-demand exhibition, IPSP™ programming represents a curated digital streaming presentation model that enables previously underutilized film and television libraries to be repackaged and distributed in new ways across modern streaming ecosystems.

Because the programming is sequenced and presented as part of a programmed streaming experience rather than individually selected for playback, IPSP™ distribution warrants treatment closely aligned with supplemental or ancillary digital exhibition models rather than conventional broadcast or transactional streaming classifications.

This distinction creates a practical framework for expanding the economic viability of legacy content libraries while supporting sustainable rights structures for producers, distributors, rights holders, creative participants, and guild organizations adapting to the continued evolution of streaming media.

Future articles will explore the technical workflow behind IPSP™ distribution, including channel assembly, playlist sequencing, streaming infrastructure, ad insertion, metadata management, platform distribution, and the evolving operational differences between traditional broadcast delivery, FAST platform distribution, and internet-delivered programmed streaming presentation models.