In the midst of the fast-spreading Coronavirus pandemic, streaming giants Netflix and YouTube have both agreed to reduce their streaming quality in all European Union countries, including UK, for one month. Google-owned YouTube and Netflix have both decided to reduce their streaming resolution from high definition to standard definition for the time being.
The move from Netflix and YouTube comes in view of European Union Commissioner for Internal Market and Services,
Thierry Breton’s request to streaming companies to scale down their streaming quality, to help decongest the Internet as millions of Europeans are compelled to work from home and depend on online collaboration to keep work running seamlessly. Even students are studying from home as universities have shut down and are dispensing classes online to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. For both these categories of people, it is imperative that their Internets run at reasonable speeds.
It is common knowledge that high definition streaming requires more Internet bandwidth, which can lead to broadband congestion.
Even as the two most-viewed streaming companies agreed to pull down their streaming resolution, the European Commission, the EU’s governing body, made another unprecedented move. It has, in connivance with the Body of the European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC), authorized the European Union’s telecom operators and internet service providers to do whatever it takes to keep the internet free of congestion. It has even allowed them to throttle internet speeds if needed.
The WHO considers Europe to be the new epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic, as the outbreak in China has stabilised considerably, while it is spreading unabated in Europe, and millions of people are stuck indoors in the midst of complete lock down in their countries.
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