A multicasting system for reception of multimedia information comprising: a content
switch coupled to a multimedia content source and at least one multimedia smart
terminal. The multimedia content source includes a plurality of multimedia contents,
wherein each multimedia content is supported by a primary multimedia stream transmitted
over a primary dedicated channel having a primary bandwidth. At least one multimedia
smart terminal is configured to receive from the content switch over a network
each multimedia content as a secondary multimedia stream transmitted over a secondary
channel having a secondary bandwidth. The content switch includes a bandwidth scaler
configured to scale each primary multimedia stream to a plurality of secondary
multimedia sub-streams that are substantially synchronized. The multimedia smart
terminal includes a smart terminal sub-stream switch configured to switch among
the plurality of secondary multimedia sub-streams in order to select a substantially
optimum secondary multimedia sub-stream. The substantially optimum secondary multimedia
sub-stream includes a substantially optimum relationship between an error rate
level determined at the time of reception of a multimedia content and the quality
of reception of a multimedia content.