u201c channel swarm u201d the nodes 120 may be but are not limited to personal computers servers portable media devices media control devices set up boxes or any other device capable of exchanging data with other nodes connected to it a node may also refer to a module of a software system such as a media player application each node 120 can act as a consumer node and or a resource node typically reliable nodes 130 are used only for the purpose of providing content and such nodes receive content from a broadcaster 140 in a typical embodiment of the invention reliable nodes 130 are placed at central points of the network 150 that are considered to be valuable for the distribution of data for example a certain geographical area for example a town may have one or two reliable nodes 130 in general network proximity to the nodes 120 it may serve a reliable node may be relied to provide a consistent bandwidth and be generally available to the nodes it serves unlike the other resource nodes as explained below which may be available or unavailable or change bandwidth over relatively short periods of time a consumer node also referred to as an acceptor or viewer is a node 120.