Serving the same stream to millions of people

[keannu]

Source : Korean Education Broadcasting System, English Reading Practice - 94p

TV shows were more popular in the seventies than they are now not because they were better, but because we had fewer alternatives to compete for our screen attention. What we thought was the rising tide of common culture actually turned out to be less about the triumph of Hollywood talent and more to do with the sheepherding effect of broadcast distribution.
The great thing about broadcast is that it can bring one show to millions of people with unmatchable efficiency. But it can’t do the opposite — bring a million shows to one person each. Yet that is exactly what the Internet does so well. The economics of the broadcast era required hit shows — big buckets — to catch huge audiences.
The economics of the broadband era are reversed. Serving the same stream to millions of people at the same time is hugely expensive and wasteful for a distribution network optimized for point-to-point communications.

What does the underlined mean?
Does it mean the situation of the internet? What does "point-to-point communication" mean?

 

[teechar]

What does the underlined mean?
[STRIKE]Does[/STRIKE] Is it [STRIKE]mean the situation[/STRIKE] talking about the architecture of the internet?
What does "point-to-point communication" mean?

Yes. The internet is based on a client-server model, where a server receives a request from a particular computer (client) and provides (serves) the data requested. Thus, it is all based on one-to-one (point-to-point) connections. This is different from, say, TV where it doesn't matter how many people are receiving the broadcast signal.

 

[Tdol]

It is cheaper to broadcast a hit show the traditional way than to stream it millions of times over.