system and method adapted to multi - cast over the internet using multiple tiers of servers . preferably , the content server transmits content to servers in the next lower tier , which may include one or more client servers , using multi - cast , but may use uni - cast . preferably , each server in all intermediate tiers transmits content to the servers in the next lower tier , which may include one or more client servers , using multi - cast , but may use uni - cast . each client server transmits to its clients using multi - cast . the quality of a live cast received by each client server may be improved using the more efficient udp / ip for downloading the bulk of the content and compensating for the occasional lost segments of data using the more reliable tcp / ip .