Hey,
I asked myself the same question that you did, only I am just curious how streaming works, you want to start a website.
It's not easy to figure out how adult live streaming really works.
From what I have found out, the streams are provided by streaming software, such as Adobe Flash Media Server. This creates the rtmp stream, that is published on the website.
( more info here :
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/ ).
From the side of the performer, I think they use a program like Adobe Flash Media Live Recorder.
This program records the video from the webcam, and transforms it to a rtmp stream.
(it is free for download here :
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashm...hmediaencoder/ )
It creates a flash file ( .flv ) that is streamed via rtmp protocol.
My guess is, that the rtmp stream from the computer of the performer,goes to the main server of the adult camsite, from where it published on the website.
I have tried this software myself, and managed to get a live stream of my webcam on a website.
Actually, I found this to be fairly easy, but this is just for 1 webcam stream. The way that adult sites like livejasmin do this, it is way more complicated.
If you want to set this up professionally, I agree hiring an expert is the best way to go.