8K Won't Be Driving Force in 2020, With 'Exorbitant' TV Pricing, Few Sold, Says ABI

8K TV “won’t happen in 2020,” said ABI Research. Though 8K TV announcements by major vendors last year attracted attention and “raised many questions,” said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn, native 8K content is not available and the pricing of 8K TV sets is "exorbitant.” Moving from HD to 4K continues with fewer than 1 million 8K shipments globally, she said Wednesday. Direct-to-consumer offerings will play a larger role in over-the-top video this year as consumers move away from “forced packaging” of channels into fixed bundles (see 2001090012), said ABI. Consumers’ ability to choose channels that best fit their needs will become more important, said analyst Michael Inouye, and that’s creating challenges for vMVPDs facing declining subscribers. In 5G, fixed wireless access will have accelerated growth, said Lynn. Such trials have begun, with barriers similar to those for traditional 5G -- expensive infrastructure and time-consuming to scale, she said. Qualcomm’s recent announcement of 5G FWA partnerships with more than 30 OEMs, and ongoing spectrum acquisitions by operators, indicate “the ecosystem is getting ready to speed up the rate of deployment,” Lynn said.