Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar and others suspend HD video streaming on cellular data

Following Youtube’s announcement that they will default to Standard definition streaming on their platform worldwide, other OTT platforms are following in the same footsteps. The lockdown has dramatically increased the traffic thus affecting the bandwidth globally.

There has been an increase of about 20-30 percent increase in data demand, caused by an increasing amount of population staying at home from quarantine. To ensure that the networks stay reliable and continue to work unhindered, major digital content companies have agreed to either default HD and ultra-HD streaming to SD content, at 480p bitrates on cellular networks.

The companies include Star & Disney India, Sony, Google, Facebook, Viacom18, Amazon Prime Video, Zee, Tiktok, Netflix, MX Player, Hotstar. This measure will be put in place till April 14th, during which the country will be on lockdown, as directed by the government.