Self-Host Your Live Streams on a Budget

What You Need

Self-hosting means your HLS segments are served straight from a server you rent, instead of going through a managed streaming platform. All you need is:

A dedicated server with enough bandwidth — 100+ Mbps unmetered for a handful of viewers, 1 Gbps for larger audiences
nginx configured to serve static files with proper CORS headers
The My Live TV Channel app pointing to your server as a “Self-hosted (WebDAV)” destination

The app pushes HLS segments to your server via WebDAV. nginx serves them to viewers. That's it.

Server Providers Compared

We've researched the most cost-effective providers for streaming workloads. Bandwidth is the biggest cost factor — here's what's available.

Truly Unmetered Bandwidth

Provider	From	Bandwidth	Port Speed	Locations	Notes
Scaleway Dedibox	€4.99/mo	Unmetered	100–500 Mbps	Paris, Amsterdam	Cheapest entry point. Pro range from €34.99
OVHcloud Kimsufi	$20/mo	Unmetered	300–500 Mbps	France, Canada, Germany, UK, US, Australia, Singapore	Best value. Anti-DDoS included
OVHcloud SoYouStart	$30/mo	Unmetered	500 Mbps–2 Gbps	Same as Kimsufi	Mid-tier with more RAM/CPU
OneProvider	~$15/mo	Unmetered (fair use)	1 Gbps	40+ locations worldwide	Reseller, widest geographic coverage
Psychz Networks	~$49/mo	Unmetered	1 Gbps	US, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia	Good for non-European audiences

Metered but Affordable

Provider	From	Included Traffic	Overage	Locations	Notes
Hetzner Dedicated	~€37/mo	“Unlimited” on 1G (fair use)	Warnings, then throttle	Germany, Finland	Great hardware, but NOT truly unmetered despite marketing. Cloud plans = 20 TB then €1.20/TB
Hetzner Auction	~€25/mo	Same fair-use policy	Same	Germany, Finland	Refurbished servers, great deals if you can grab one

A note about Hetzner: Their dedicated servers are marketed as "unlimited" bandwidth, but in practice they enforce a fair-use policy. If you consistently saturate your connection they will contact you and may throttle. Their cloud servers have a hard 20 TB/month cap with overage at €1.20/TB. Great hardware and pricing, just be aware of the limits.

Bandwidth Calculator

How much bandwidth do you actually need? Here's a quick reference for a 4 Mbps stream (720p or 1080p):

1 viewer at 4 Mbps = ~1.3 TB/month
5 concurrent viewers = ~6.5 TB/month
10 concurrent viewers = ~13 TB/month
25 concurrent viewers = ~32 TB/month

Rule of thumb: A 100 Mbps unmetered server can handle up to ~25 concurrent viewers at 4 Mbps. A 1 Gbps port can serve ~250 concurrent viewers. For most community broadcasters, a €5–20/month server is more than enough.

Quick Setup

1 Rent a server from one of the providers above
2 Install nginx with WebDAV support:
apt install nginx nginx-extras
3 Configure nginx to accept WebDAV uploads and serve HLS with CORS headers
4 In the My Live TV Channel app, add a “Self-hosted (WebDAV)” destination and enter your server URL
5 Start streaming — the app pushes HLS segments to your server, and nginx serves them to your viewers

Tip: For better viewer experience in different regions, you can set up multiple servers and use DNS-based load balancing. Start with one server and scale as your audience grows.

Ready to Self-Host?

Download My Live TV Channel, add your server as a WebDAV destination, and start broadcasting today.

Download on the App Store