by Thinus Ferreira
Netflix, as well as MultiChoice's DStv and Showmax video streaming services, are dropping their bitrate speeds in South Africa as well as across sub-Saharan Africa to help alleviate bandwidth and internet network congestion during the growing global Covid-19 novel coronavirus pandemic.
Netflix and MultiChoice told TVwithThinus on Monday in response to media enquiries that they're lowering the streaming resolution of their subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services.
This is similar to what Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Google's YouTube have done since last week across Europe.
Netflix said it would be reducing the bitrate of its service in South Africa and across the African continent from midnight on Monday night during these uncertain times.
Starting on Monday night 30 March 2020 Netflix is lowering its bitrate delivery across Africa for 30 days to try and help mitigate congestion on the network across the African continent.
Netflix South Africa says that the lowered bitrate will not have an effect on the video streaming quality with users who will continue to be able to watch content in high definition (HD) although the streamer will be reducing the bitrate across the African continent during these uncertain times.
"Given the crisis, we've developed a way to reduce Netflix's traffic on telecommunications networks by 25% while also maintaining the quality of our service," says Ken Florance, Netflix vice president of content delivery.
"Consumers should continue to get the quality that comes with their plan - whether it's ultra-high (UH), high definition (HD) or standard definition (SD). We believe that this will provide significant relief to congested networks and we will be deploying it in Africa for the next 30 days."
MultiChoice said it too is reducing the bitrate on its DStv Now platform and its Showmax apps with the same approach happening in South Africa as well as across all of sub-Saharan Africa.
Richard Boorman, spokesperson, said the pay-TV operator "implemented data traffic reduction measures, focusing
specifically on mobile traffic".
"We've limited the maximum resolution for both Showmax and DStv
Now live streaming
to 576p on
our mobile apps. We're also busy with some other measures and
are working closely with internet service providers (ISPs) to monitor the situation. If needed we'll
step in with further traffic reduction measures."
Showmax and DStv Now usually stream at a maximum of 720p and this continues for users streaming content through their browsers, TV sets or connected DStv Explora decoders.
