Unlimited video streaming around the corner: Netflix
Netflix head Reed Hastings predicted on Monday that mobile carriers will soon offer data plans that give users unlimited video streaming to meet the rising popularity of watching TV and movies on mobile devices.
“Ten to 20 years from now, all the video you view is going to be on the Internet,” he said at the Mobile World Congress. “I think screens today are really stunning, you can see all the depth right in front of you. The beautiful thing is you can watch it on the move.”
While watching video on mobile devices via Netflix and other streaming sites is growing, data caps imposed on plans by mobile operators act as a barrier to users wanting to watch a video on the go. Carriers offer unlimited data caps but they are usually very expensive.
But Hastings said he believed
Ten to 20 years from now, all the video you view is going to be on the Internet Reed Hastings, Netflix head
mobile carriers will eventually create a two-tear system where video data is unlimited to meet the growing demand for watching TV series and movies on mobile devices.
“What we are going to see I think is a number of companies pioneering new ways of offering services to the consumers where it is unlimited video data but it is limited to say one megabit speed,” he said.
“So it is a slower speed but you get unlimited data on that and that turns out to be very efficient on network so an operator can offer unlimited viewing.”