Disney+ launch delayed in France, bandwidth use cut for Europe amid coronavirus – Variety

The launch of Walt Disney’s streaming services in France will be delayed by two weeks at the request of the French government, Variety reported on Saturday.

The report cited a statement from Kevin Mayer, head of Disney’s Direct-to-consumer and International business. Disney officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Disney+ is set to launch in the UK and most major European markets on March 24, but European subscribers will receive temporarily degraded video quality, the report said.

Anticipating higher consumer demand, the company is instituting measures to “lower our overall bandwidth utilization by at least 25% in all of the markets launching Disney+ on March 24th,” the report said, citing Mayer’s statement.