Editing Webcast (section)

==Overview==
Webcasting is used extensively in the commercial sector for investor relations [[presentation]]s (such as annual general meetings), in [[e-learning]] (to transmit [[seminar]]s), and for related communications activities. However, webcasting does not bear much, if any, relationship to [[web conferencing]], which is designed for many-to-many interaction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.inxpo.com/casting-calls/bid/112104/Webcasting-101-Planning-and-Executing-High-Quality-Webcasts|title=Webcasting 101: Planning and Executing High Quality Webcasts|last=Shiao|first=Dennis|date=December 26, 2012|publisher=INXPO|access-date=May 15, 2013|archive-date=January 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127014936/http://web.inxpo.com/casting-calls/bid/112104/Webcasting-101-Planning-and-Executing-High-Quality-Webcasts|url-status=live}}</ref>

The ability to webcast using cheap/accessible technology has allowed [[independent media]] to flourish.  There are many notable independent shows that [[Broadcasting|broadcast]] regularly online. Often produced by average citizens in their homes they cover many interests and topics. Webcasts relating to computers, [[technology]], and news are particularly popular and many new shows are added regularly.

Webcasting differs from [[podcast]]ing in that webcasting refers to live streaming while podcasting simply refers to media files placed on the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webmarketcentral.com/webcast_podcast_overview.htm|title=Overview of Webcasting and Podcasting|publisher=WebMarketCentral|access-date=May 15, 2013|archive-date=October 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025225127/http://www.webmarketcentral.com/webcast_podcast_overview.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The term "webcast" had previously been used to describe the distribution of Web or Internet content using conventional broadcast technologies such as those intended for digital video ([[Digital Video Broadcasting]]) and audio ([[Digital Audio Broadcasting]]), and in some cases even leveraging analogue broadcasting techniques traditionally used by [[Teletext]] services to deliver a limited "Best of the Web" selection of content to audiences. Overnight broadcasts of data via analogue television signals were claimed by WebTV representatives to be able to offer "a fresh gigabyte of data every day... while you sleep".<ref name="electronicnews19970929_webtv">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/sim_electronic-news_1997-09-29_43_2187/page/n68/mode/1up | title=WebTV Trumpets Latest Advances | magazine=Electronic News | last1=Morrison | first1=Gale B. | date=29 September 1997 | access-date=18 August 2023 | pages=53 }}</ref> Typically, webcasting referred to a form of [[datacasting]] involving higher bandwidth broadcast technologies delivering Web content, multimedia files in particular, and with any interactivity supported by lower bandwidth return channels such as dial-up Internet access over the public telephone network or communication over mobile telephone networks. Such return channels conveyed each user's requests for the delivery of specific content over the broadcast medium. Eventually, DVB satellite operators were to offer a higher bandwidth return channel using [[DVB-RCS]], raising the prospect of "point-to-point connections with users' satellite dishes". Webcasting had been regarded as a way of providing higher bandwidth Internet access to home computer users as well as enabling television-based Internet access, driving the development of [[Smart TV|smart television]] products.<ref name="byte199803_webcasting">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1998-03_OCR/page/n54/mode/1up | title=Webcasting Over the Air | magazine=Byte | last1=Thompson | first1=Valerie | date=March 1998 | access-date=18 August 2023 | pages=40IS 11–14 |volume=23 |number=3 }}</ref>