Coronavirus: Disney+ to Arrive in Europe on Tuesday With Reduced Streaming Quality

Disney's video-on-demand streaming service Disney+ will arrive in Europe on Tuesday in temporarily degraded video quality.

"In anticipation of high consumer demand for Disney+, we are proactively instituting measures to lower our overall bandwidth utilisation by at least 25 percent in all of the markets launching Disney+ on March 24," the company said in a statement.

Additionally, Disney had agreed to a European Union request for streaming-video providers to "ensure the smooth functioning of the broadband infrastructure."

"In the coming days, we will be monitoring Internet congestion and working closely with Internet service providers to further reduce bit rates as necessary to ensure they are not overwhelmed by consumer demand.

"We look forward to the launch of Disney+ and hope it will provide a much-needed respite for families in these challenging and trying times," the company added.

Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV+, Amazon, and Facebook have also lowered their video quality in Europe as the European Union has asked streaming services to consider temporary reductions in streaming quality.

© Thomson Reuters 2020