The interesting thing is that a lot of TV infrastructure is now running over IP networks. If I were to order a TV connection for my home I'd get an IPTV box to connect to my broadband router via Ethernet, and it'd simply tell the upstream router to send a copy of a multicast stream my way.

Reliable and redundant multicast streaming is pretty much a solved problem, but it does require everyone along the way to participate. Not a problem if you're an ISP offering TV, definitely a problem if you're Netflix trying to convince every single provider to set it up for some one-off boxing match.