Coronavirus: Netflix to reduce quality of streams in Israel to help ISPs

Netflix will comply with a government request to reduce stream quality in Israel to help ease data congestion from people staying home due to the coronavirus, the Communications Ministry said on Monday.

The world's largest streaming media service has also cut traffic on networks in Europe to help internet service providers (ISPs) experiencing a surge in usage.

Israeli ISPs have reported an average increase of as much as 30% since the outbreak began, prompting the telecoms regulator to ask Netflix to lower broadcasting bit rates.

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Netflix, which had more than 42 million subscribers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East in the first quarter, agreed to comply and will make adjustments gradually over the next week, the ministry said in a statement.

"Given the extraordinary challenges raised by the coronavirus, we have decided to begin reducing bit rates across all our streams in Israel for 30 days. We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on Israeli networks by around 25% while also ensuring a good quality service," the ministry quoted the streaming giant as saying.

In Europe, Netflix is removing its highest bandwidth within each resolution category for 30 days.

Many Israelis have taken to social media to complain of a slowdown in Internet speeds.

There was no immediate, separate comment from Netflix on the Israeli move.