An interesting paper from IP Development Network in UK, which analyzes the HD download costs for ISPs, how and who pays for it, and the need for ISPs to upgrade networks.
It claims a two-hour HD movie, of around 9GB in size, could cost an ISP as much as 21.13 GBP to transmit via IP streaming. This is more than many broadband users pay each month, and could mean the ISP forces the customer to bear the cost. ISPs charging for content download bandwidth (which may have been bought/paid as well, say through iTunes) may not be feasible. The solution, according to the paper, is for the ISPs to control or provide their own content and “multicast” it from the local exchange — a shift that already seems to be the plan of companies such as BT and Orange in UK. Some detractors of this study say HD is not coming online anytime soon.
This is a UK scenario, but has implications for U.S. as well, what with the net neutrality debate raging on. The full PDF file for download is here.
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