Well, 1080p requires theoretically 2.27x more bits than 720p. Though in practice it's a good bit less. HEVC promises to halve bitrates relative to H.264, so 108

Well, 1080p requires theoretically 2.27x more bits than 720p. Though in practice it's a good bit less. HEVC promises to halve bitrates relative to H.264, so 1080p HEVC would need about the same bitrate as current 720p. So it shouldn't be too long before bandwidth isn't a significant issue for steaming 1080p. Of course, 4k needs another 3-4 times the bitrate, so it'll probably take another codec standard (~1 decade) before it becomes as widespread as 720p is now.