5G wireless network speeds will bring us more than just fast wireless service. It will transform other industries we use as well. Let’s take a closer look at how 5G wireless will transform the pay TV industry in the very near future.
Currently, cable TV or pay TV service comes to your home over the cable television network or over the Internet with IPTV. Today, we can even watch pay TV over our smartphone and tablet over the wireless network as well. Tomorrow, we’ll be able to get pay TV delivered to our homes without a hard wire connection.
That’s when things will really start to change. With 5G wireless networks, we’ll be able to get the same kind of pay TV service we get today, but it will come to us over the wireless network. The worlds of wireless, telecom, cable TV and the Internet are changing. They are speeding up and they are coming together.
That’s just some of what the new world of 5G has in store for us.
5G wireless has the power to change everything
Yesterday, we had to do business with different companies in each segment like local and long-distance telephone, wireless, cable TV, Internet and more. Tomorrow we will be able to choose one company and get it all.
5G will be the next big step in this trend. We’ve been on this path for the last decade or two. However, 5G has the power to change everything virtually overnight.
Users have been crying for lower cost cable TV options for years. Without competition, the cable television industry was under no pressure to satisfy that demand. Pay TV delivered over the Internet started to change that dynamic. Suddenly, customers had choices with new services like AT&T DirecTV NOW, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube TV and more.
AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile move into wireless pay TV
Now, as the wireless industry moves toward 5G, another earthquake is about to be unleashed in the marketplace. 4G was fast enough to deliver wireless pay TV to the smartphone or tablet anywhere in the USA. However, it was not able to carry enough data, quickly enough to be used on several, big-screen TV’s in the house or office.
That’s where 5G will change everything. 5G is fast enough. And as it is rolled out, it will not only improve the wireless connection to the smartphone and tablet, but it will also unleash new services that wireless never could before.
One of these services is pay TV to the home or office. 5G will be fast enough to deliver pay TV signal wirelessly. That means users will have more competitive choices. That means companies like AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint will get into the pay TV business, wirelessly.
That also means new companies that deliver pay TV wirelessly will be born and enter the competitive marketplace. The entire pay TV space is in the process of reinventing itself.
Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, Altice will expand their offerings
What this means for traditional ways of delivering television is more competition. Companies that only offer traditional cable TV will be under competitive pressure.
Companies like Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum and Altice, that move into the larger pay TV space and IPTV space will be able to continue to compete. Smaller cable TV competitors who do not expand, will have a tougher time as 5G transforms the industry.
Expect AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless to start testing their 5G network in certain markets in the next few months. Expect new services to be tested in some of these markets as well. One of the exciting next steps is 5G pay TV may be one of these new services.
Expect AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless to start testing 5G pay TV
We thought 5G was the next generation of wireless service, and it is, but smartphones and tablets are just one of the new areas that will be impacted. Other industries will embrace 5G to improve and to transform their existing services.
That’s what is happening with the changing pay TV space. Decades ago it started with basic cable television and a few channels. Then over time, the channel lineup increased, the service changed from analog to digital, cable TV networks started to rebrand their services and use the Internet, not just their cable TV network, then they started offering wireless phone services.
Recently, new competitors entered the picture using new technologies at lower costs, which created a growing churning effect on users. Traditional cable television has been losing customers as new services are gaining.
Some cable TV companies are moving into these new areas as well. Others are not.
So, the next, transformative revolution will be how pay TV will continue to change and grow with new technologies and new competitors. The next big step will be letting users connect using their new 5G wireless service instead of the traditional cable buried under their lawn.
As the next big innovation 5G wireless wave rushes across the nation, it will be exciting to see which companies lead in this new space and how leadership in different industry sectors like cable TV will change. The sky is the limit!
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