Delivering multimedia services

A method for delivery of multimedia services comprising:

• providing a high-speed network backbone carrying content;
• providing at least two regional servers, coupled to the high-speed network backbone and including a first regional server and a second regional server which each provide a second level of caching for content received from the high-speed network backbone, the first regional server configured to customize multicast content to form a first version of multicast content and the second regional server configured to customize the multicast content to form a second version of multicast content;
• and
• providing a plurality of caching servers, including a first caching server coupled to the first regional server and a second caching server coupled to the second regional server, each caching server configured to provide a first level of caching of content for an end user system in a region served by the regional server to which it is coupled, and to provide the customized multicast content formed by the coupled regional server to the end-user system.

A system for delivery of multimedia services comprising:

• a first regional server coupled to a high-speed network backbone, the first regional server providing a second level of caching for content received from the high-speed network backbone and customizing multicast content received from the high-speed network backbone to form a first version of multicast content;
• a second regional server coupled to the high-speed network backbone, the second regional server providing a second level of caching for content received from the high-speed network backbone and customizing multicast content received from the high-speed network backbone to form a second version of multicast content;
• a first caching server coupled to the first regional server, the first caching server providing a first level of caching of content received from the first regional server and providing the first version of multicast content to an end-user system in a region served by the first regional server;
• and
• a second caching server coupled to the second regional server, the second caching server providing a first level of caching of content received from the second regional server and providing the second version of multicast content to an end-user system in a region served by the second regional server.