Media transport protocol selection

A client terminal and method for receiving Internet Protocol (IP) media packets over an IP distribution network. The client terminal includes a plurality of interfaces to the IP distribution network, the interfaces configured to receive media packets according to multicast, unicast, and peer-to-peer media distribution protocols. A media cache controller determines whether the media packets received over the interfaces are tagged as non-cacheable. If so, the media cache controller passes the media packets to a decoder for decoding and transmission to a video renderer. When the received media packets are not tagged as non-cacheable, the media cache controller caches the media packets in a local cache, and subsequently distributes the cached media packets to another client terminal or to a caching node using the unicast or the peer-to-peer media distribution protocol. Media packets received using one media distribution protocol may be distributed using a different media distribution protocol.