The biggest disadvantage of streaming over progressive download is if the user watches the same video over and over you will pay for the delivery of it each time. Videos are also streamed at what ever bit rate they are encoded at. Keep this in mind when creating HD quality video. 8Mbps video may sound and look great, but most homes can't sustain an 8Mbps connection. If you have really high bit rate video, consider delivering via HTTP.
Most web hosting providers or Content Delivery Networks (CDN) will have streaming media servers available to use. Historically, Flash video was more expensive to deliver than other forms. Recently prices have compressed and you will find that it costs about the same to deliver Flash or Windows Media files. In the past I would have said if your video is more than 10 minutes in length deliver it via Stream and less do progressive. Since prices
Pay DTT services are now available in 13 countries of the European Union, including the Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, UK, Spain and Sweden.
There are also limited services in Germany, and also some non-EU European countries like Albania, Iceland, Macedonia, Norway and Switzerland