How Much 'TV Everywhere' Will Comcast's Caps Allow?
My estimate: almost 500 hours per month.
Comcast last week announced it would initiate a trial next month to provide full-length episodes from Time Warner Inc.’s TNT and TBS and other networks, to customers who already pay for cable TV and broadband. (See Comcast, Time Warner Inc. Try To Blend Online TV Models, Nets Jump Into Comcast’s Online VOD Trial and TV Everywhere: The Ball Gets Rolling.)
The MSO’s executives noted that the Web video watched through the service will count toward the overall 250-Gbyte per month usage limit, which the operator instituted last fall (see Comcast Sets Bandwidth Limit).
So how much online TV does that let you watch?
According to my calculations, 250 Gbytes is enough for some 496 hours of high-quality video streaming, or the equivalent of 20 days of around-the-clock online-video watching.
To arrive at that figure, I accessed three different episodes on ABC.com, which uses the video player from Move Networks, the same player Comcast says it’s using in its test.
I accessed the “HD” versions of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars Season Finale (42:37 minutes), Desperate Housewives, Season 5 Finale Part 1 (43:30 minutes), and Ugly Betty, Season 3 Finale Part 1 (43:30 minutes). High-definition in this case isn’t broadcast-quality HD (see How ABC.com Plans to Deliver HD Online); the bit rates I was hitting over a Cablevision Optimum Online connection for each episode were 1.091 Mbps, 974 Kbps and 1.031 Mbps, respectively.
Video-encoding bit rates vary widely, but it’s safe to assume Comcast and Time Warner Inc. would want to at least match the best-quality broadcast service currently available Internet video service that broadcasters currently offer.
Using a bandwidth meter, I measured the amount of bandwidth needed for each episode (including ads) and arrived at 371.2 Mbytes for Dancing With the Stars, 341.5 Mbytes for Desperate Housewives, and 375.8 Mbytes for Ugly Betty. That’s an average of 504 Mbytes per hour of video.
Of course, if you have lower caps you’re going to run out of gas sooner — Time Warner Cable’s planned expansion of usage-based billing tests to four markets (scrapped after a backlash) included caps ranging from 10 to 60 Gbytes. With 10 Gigs, you’d only get around 19.8 hours of “TV Everywhere.”
But for Comcast, the 250-Gbyte ceiling seems pretty ample, at first glance.
Todd Spangler commented:
DG - I meant the best-quality service that broadcasters like ABC offer on the Internet. Apologies for the confusion.
DG Lewis commented:
If "it’s safe to assume Comcast and Time Warner Inc. would want to at least match the best-quality broadcast service currently available", then they'll need to ship MPEG-4 encoded HD video, which typically runs at 6-8 Mb/s (although it's rumored that AT&T has gotten it squeezed down to about 5 on U-verse). That would increase your bandwidth by a factor of 5 (and reduce your hours of viewing to 100 hours per month).
It would also require Comcast and TWC to invest in MPEG-4 technology, which they're not currently using; their HD currently uses MPEG-2, which runs at 12-18 Mb/s depending on how you tune it. Which would increase your bandwidth by a factor of 12-18 (and decrease the viewing hours to between 28 and 42).
Stew commented:
Quite correct but they are no longer HD. read The Don't believe the low bit-rate 'HD' lie article.
Todd Spangler commented:
Stew, video encoded for distribution over the Web is typically at a lower bit rate than the files offered through iTunes.
Stew commented:
Perhaps it is because they are loosing revenue from the cable tv operations. If they can model the internet like they lease content (shh don't tell anyone they don't) they can replace the lost income stream.
Stew commented:
Apple I tunes videos are 4-5Gb. Lets use 4Gb = 2hrs movie. 10Gb = 5 hrs not 19. Throw in a few ads and your over pretty fast. Why do "dumb pipes" think they are content owners, creators, or providers. They are just pipes and should be compensated accordingly. They are asking for regulation.
On2 VP8 commented:
Thank you Comcast-I'll double down my ONT stock.
About time a major player realizes the savings fron using On2 Technologies VP8!!!!
Todd Spangler commented:
techsavyinvestor - yes, Comcast and/or Time Warner could offer lower-quality feeds for better bandwidth efficiency. However, they’ve positioned this as a premium offering relative to other online video.
techsavyinvestor commented:
Could you not simply use a more compressed codec and get more video for the same Mbyte Cap?
Todd Spangler commented:
Stew, I didn’t see your previous comments. Can you explain what you mean? What’s wrong about my figures?
Stew commented:
I see you deleted my comments on how wrong you are in you figures. Shows your bias.
