A system comprising: one or more servers (100a, 100b) configured to be located at an edge location between a distribution network and an access network (161, 162), the distribution network connecting a content source with the one or more servers, and the access network connecting the one or more servers and a plurality of terminals (170-172, 173-175), each of the one or more servers containing a processor and a memory, the one or more servers (100a, 100b) configured to: receive content encoded in a first format from the distribution network; transcode the content from the first format to a second format compatible with at least one of the plurality of terminals; and store a plurality of copies of the content, each of the plurality of copies encoded in a different format; and fragment the transcoded content into a plurality of fragments that each begin with an i-frame; and store the plurality of fragments on a storage medium from where the fragments are randomly accessible; wherein the process of fragmenting is separated from the process of transcoding; wherein the one or more servers are further configured to randomly access the beginning of each of the fragments from the storage medium; and distribute at least a portion of the transcoded and fragmented content over the access network (161, 162); said distributing including: measure a current error rate of the access network; in response to the current error rate exceeding an error threshold, cease distributing the at least a portion of the transcoded content at a point in the content and begin distributing a portion of a second copy of the content, the portion of the second copy of the content beginning at the point in the content, wherein the portion of the second copy of the content is encoded in a lower quality format than the at least a portion of the transcoded content. one or more servers (100a, 100b) configured to be located at an edge location between a distribution network and an access network (161, 162), the distribution network connecting a content source with the one or more servers, and the access network connecting the one or more servers and a plurality of terminals (170-172, 173-175), each of the one or more servers containing a processor and a memory, the one or more servers (100a, 100b) configured to: receive content encoded in a first format from the distribution network; transcode the content from the first format to a second format compatible with at least one of the plurality of terminals; and store a plurality of copies of the content, each of the plurality of copies encoded in a different format; and fragment the transcoded content into a plurality of fragments that each begin with an i-frame; and store the plurality of fragments on a storage medium from where the fragments are randomly accessible; wherein the process of fragmenting is separated from the process of transcoding; wherein the one or more servers are further configured to randomly access the beginning of each of the fragments from the storage medium; and distribute at least a portion of the transcoded and fragmented content over the access network (161, 162); said distributing including: measure a current error rate of the access network; in response to the current error rate exceeding an error threshold, cease distributing the at least a portion of the transcoded content at a point in the content and begin distributing a portion of a second copy of the content, the portion of the second copy of the content beginning at the point in the content, wherein the portion of the second copy of the content is encoded in a lower quality format than the at least a portion of the transcoded content. receive content encoded in a first format from the distribution network; transcode the content from the first format to a second format compatible with at least one of the plurality of terminals; and store a plurality of copies of the content, each of the plurality of copies encoded in a different format; and fragment the transcoded content into a plurality of fragments that each begin with an i-frame; and store the plurality of fragments on a storage medium from where the fragments are randomly accessible; fragment the transcoded content into a plurality of fragments that each begin with an i-frame; and store the plurality of fragments on a storage medium from where the fragments are randomly accessible; wherein the process of fragmenting is separated from the process of transcoding; wherein the one or more servers are further configured to randomly access the beginning of each of the fragments from the storage medium; and distribute at least a portion of the transcoded and fragmented content over the access network (161, 162); said distributing including: measure a current error rate of the access network; in response to the current error rate exceeding an error threshold, cease distributing the at least a portion of the transcoded content at a point in the content and begin distributing a portion of a second copy of the content, the portion of the second copy of the content beginning at the point in the content, wherein the portion of the second copy of the content is encoded in a lower quality format than the at least a portion of the transcoded content.