MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - 100 Million Prime members (disclosure: I'm one.)

fjtorres · 04-26-2018, 12:11 PM

As to 5G bandwidth capabilities and usage caps, to be commercially viable 5G will be expected to support 4K HDR video streaming. Today that requires a sustained connection, per customer, of 25Megabits per second:

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444

That works out to 3.125 megabytes per second and 11.25 gigabytes per hour.
A customer streaming a two hour movie each evening will be consuming over 20GB daily and well over 600GB a month.

This does not require 5G but represents the floor that any 5G service will have to exceed to be competitive in the next decade. Yes, this will require massive investments and deep pocket players but there is no shortage of money. Existing wireless providers are already spending tens of billions upgrading and the ones unable/unwilling to do so (T-mobile) are looking to sell to those willing to ante up before their current infrastructure investment is devalued.
There will be consolidation just as there is consolidation in publishing.
It is the inevitable result of all tech disruptions.
Just as avid reader adoption to ebooks is disrupting the tradebook industry, the transition to streaming as the *primary* means of video entertainment consumption is disrupting the TV and movie industry.

In the next decade Amazon's investment in Prime video will be seen as prescient as their investments in Kindle, AWS, and Alexa. Mostly because the 100 million subscribers are financing and justifying the billions Amazon is pouring into Amazon Studios for movies and TV series they control instead of just licensing them from Hollywood.

They're not alone.
Netflix is doing it.
Hulu is doing it.
Sony is quietly doing it. (Check out CRACKLE originals.)
Disney and TimeWarner (regardless of who ends up owning them) are doing it.
Even Apple is (belatedly) getting into it.

Expect more mergers between content owners and tech companies.
Facebook and Google will need to buy up the likes of Discovery, Lifetime, and Hallmark if they are to compete.

Whole new ballgame with less room for middlemen and pilot fish.
Just like publishing.

04-26-2018, 12:11 PM	#91
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	As to 5G bandwidth capabilities and usage caps, to be commercially viable 5G will be expected to support 4K HDR video streaming. Today that requires a sustained connection, per customer, of 25Megabits per second: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444 That works out to 3.125 megabytes per second and 11.25 gigabytes per hour. A customer streaming a two hour movie each evening will be consuming over 20GB daily and well over 600GB a month. This does not require 5G but represents the floor that any 5G service will have to exceed to be competitive in the next decade. Yes, this will require massive investments and deep pocket players but there is no shortage of money. Existing wireless providers are already spending tens of billions upgrading and the ones unable/unwilling to do so (T-mobile) are looking to sell to those willing to ante up before their current infrastructure investment is devalued. There will be consolidation just as there is consolidation in publishing. It is the inevitable result of all tech disruptions. Just as avid reader adoption to ebooks is disrupting the tradebook industry, the transition to streaming as the primary means of video entertainment consumption is disrupting the TV and movie industry. In the next decade Amazon's investment in Prime video will be seen as prescient as their investments in Kindle, AWS, and Alexa. Mostly because the 100 million subscribers are financing and justifying the billions Amazon is pouring into Amazon Studios for movies and TV series they control instead of just licensing them from Hollywood. They're not alone. Netflix is doing it. Hulu is doing it. Sony is quietly doing it. (Check out CRACKLE originals.) Disney and TimeWarner (regardless of who ends up owning them) are doing it. Even Apple is (belatedly) getting into it. Expect more mergers between content owners and tech companies. Facebook and Google will need to buy up the likes of Discovery, Lifetime, and Hallmark if they are to compete. Whole new ballgame with less room for middlemen and pilot fish. Just like publishing. Last edited by fjtorres; 04-26-2018 at 12:19 PM.