from Hacker News

Ask HN: Why is it good if media companies lower streaming quality?

by marinhero on 3/30/20, 11:53 PM with 2 comments

How is this helpful if the quality of a stream is regulated by the speed of the internet in the spot where the client is? In my understanding, if the local network is busy it will ultimately result in lower speeds, therefore, a "degraded" stream quality.

  • by billconan on 3/31/20, 12:00 AM

    you are assuming the bottleneck is network. But there could be other factors that are the bottlenecks.

    for example, cost, might be one reason. The bandwidth cost you money. The more people use it, the more money you spend. Like running a gym, you want everybody to have a membership, but You don't want them to actually come to the gym to avoid paying for utilities.

    Similarly, recently zoom said their quarterly income will be lower, because they need to invest into infrastructures due to increased usage. You would assume, the more users they have, the more money they make. not necessarily.