If you're in Europe and you're planning to do a lot of streaming during the Coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), Disney+ has some bad news. The House of Mouse has just announced that it will be reducing the bandwidth in the continent to avoid internet congestion when the service is launched next week.
The announcement was made by Kevin Mayer, Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer & International at the Walt Disney Co. in a statement (via Deadline).
"In line with Disney's longstanding commitment to act responsibly, we are responding to the request of the European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton to work together to ensure the smooth functioning of the broadband infrastructure," Mayer said in the statement. "In the coming days, we will be monitoring Internet congestion and working closely with Internet service providers to further reduce bitrates as necessary to ensure they are not overwhelmed by consumer demand."
The statement concluded with a hopeful note. "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," Mayer said.
The report also confirmed that the launch of Disney+ will be delayed to April 7.
This is sad news for European fans who have been waiting for the launch of the service since last year. Nevertheless, these are currently difficult times and the bandwidth reduction is necessary so that everyone could enjoy Disney+ next week.
Disney+ will launch in Europe on March 24.
Related: Disney Decides to Suspend Revealing Box Office Results During COVID-19 Outbreak
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