As hundreds of millions of people around the world are forced to stay at home due to lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19, officials in the European Union are worried that there is not enough bandwidth to handle the massive spike in people streaming movies and television shows on Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services.
If the internet goes down, it could cause even more problems as many people require a high-speed connection so they can continue to work from home during the outbreak. To prevent the internet from crashing under the strain, officials have urged Netflix to cut their bandwidth usage, and only stream shows in standard definition instead of high definition or 4K. HD streaming requires around 5.0 Mbps of bandwidth, while 4K streams can use up to 25 Mbps. Streaming SD videos meanwhile, uses between 1.0-2.3 Mbps of bandwidth.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted that he spoke with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings about the issue while urging customers to make the switch themselves by changing their settings to only stream shows in SD.
"Streaming platforms, telecom operators, and users, we all have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet during the battle against the virus propagation," Breton said in a statement.
A Netflix spokesperson told CNN Business that Breton and Hastings will speak again and said that the company already manages the quality of videos based on current network capacity.
"Commissioner Breton is right to highlight the importance of ensuring that the internet continues to run smoothly during this critical time," the Netflix spokesperson said. "We've been focused on network efficiency for many years, including providing our open connect service for free to telecommunications companies."
To keep up to date on the latest news about the coronavirus and to understand what you need to stay safe and healthy, check out the Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction podcast from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
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