Disney+ launches in European markets, lowers bandwidth usage

Yahoo Finance's Zack Guzman and Heidi Chung discuss Disney+ launching into seven European markets and its plans to cut bandwidth usage by 25% as more people stay home due to the coronavirus.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: But in the meantime, we're also watching individual stocks as well. Disney moving closer to about $100 a share, right now sitting at $95 despite problems it's having in its launch with Disney+ moving into European markets across the pond.

I want to bring in Heidi Chung to get us the latest there. Heidi, what are the problems we're seeing right now?

HEIDI CHUNG: Zack, well, we saw this kind of-- the same thing play out when Disney+ launched here in the US. There were some reports that some people couldn't sign up and the streaming wasn't working in the first couple of days. But at the end of the day, everything worked out fine, and Disney+ was a very successful launch here in the US.

Now Disney+ is launching today in key European markets, seven of those countries-- the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland. The launch in France has been delayed until April 7.

And much like the big streaming players that we've heard from just this past week and late last week, Disney will also be temporarily cutting its bandwidth usage by 25% so that the internet traffic isn't too congested over in Europe.

But like you mentioned, there have been some glitches that have been reported, that people in the UK have not been able to sign up for Disney+. Regardless of that situation though, I think there have been a lot of questions as to the timing of this launch, whether or not they're going to actually see a big boost because folks are staying at home due to the COVID-19 outbreak. But on the flip side, you have a situation where production has been halted, so Disney+ isn't able to really release any new content. So whether or not that'll weigh on this launch will be something very closely monitored by a lot of people out there, Zack.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, no doubt. Potentially worthwhile to keep your eyes on Disney's shares.