Netflix Europe has responded to the request of EU Commissioner Thierry Breton to only stream video in standard definition by cutting its streaming rate by 25%.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnar...ity-during-coronavirus-pandemic/#327966043711
on paper an overall 25% dial down in Netflix streaming data levels to each subscriber (if that’s how Netflix plays it) would still allow many households to continue getting 4K and HD streams as they do now. They just won’t look quite as good (presumably they’ll appear a little softer, and/or suffer with more visible banding and compression artefacts).
“Following the discussions between Commissioner Thierry Breton and [Netflix CEO] Reed Hastings, and given the extraordinary challenges raised by the coronavirus, Netflix has decided to begin reducing bitrates across all our streams in Europe for 30 days.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnar...ity-during-coronavirus-pandemic/#327966043711
on paper an overall 25% dial down in Netflix streaming data levels to each subscriber (if that’s how Netflix plays it) would still allow many households to continue getting 4K and HD streams as they do now. They just won’t look quite as good (presumably they’ll appear a little softer, and/or suffer with more visible banding and compression artefacts).
The fact that a 25% drop should in most cases allow users to still enjoy 4K or HD pictures is, of course, pretty important for Netflix, given that it charges subscribers to its 4K service a premium for the extra picture quality. The streamer surely doesn’t want to have to go about issuing refunds to everyone who currently pays for the UHD subscription if they can suddenly only get HD streams.