For example, watching a paid soccer online broadcast – if a lot of people watch it then the quality will drop and it will start buffering and lagging. But that never happens with a soccer TV broadcast no matter how many people watch it. Why is that?
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Imagine money being thrown away from a helicopter. You stand in crowd and catch it – that’s the TV broadcast. Now imagine that they had to bring in by truck. A big crowd and jam will form and it is likely you will get less and later. You can send multiple trucks, but it will cost more. On the other hand truck driver will be physically able to give you money in another currency, if you specifically ask so, or even act as a meeting point for you to exchange money with somebody else.
In other words, catching TV signals is easier. You only need a one device, a TV. However with internet connection it’s more difficult. Besides the receiving device, you need a more complicated infrastructure and its upkeep to process and re-transmit signal (e.g. look at the density of cell towers). With it comes the extra benefit internet provides: unlike with TV, you not only receive the signal, but also can send one yourself, and not just to the provider of whatever you are getting, but to anybody else (and receive back from them). It is a great empowering improvement, but complexity of its implementation results in you not getting a free omnipresent source – you have to pay for the internet yourself, or find a free wifi (meaning somebody else pays and graciously shares), while the connection capacity will still be limited. If too many people start using this source at the same time, expect you will get less and later.
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