A peer-to-peer (P2P) application which can be applied to TVs. The P2P
application promotes a social networking aspect by allowing devices
connecting to either the home mesh network and/or Internet to share
contents and create common-interest channels. The P2P application does
not require support from network infrastructure (e.g., no central
servers), and consequently is extremely cost-effective and easy to
deploy. The distributed nature of this system allows users to join or
leave the network at will. It takes advantage of the local home mesh
network connectivity, or existing Internet connections. A participant
that tunes into a broadcast on an Internet channel is not only
downloading a video stream, but also uploading it to other participants
watching the program. Data mining systems capture user preferences and
create personalized Internet channels on the TV using the P2P network.