Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, today officially rolled out to the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria.
The premium streaming service is available via most popular web browsers, Apple TV, iOS, Amazon Fire, Android, Google Chromecast, Xbox One, PS4, and smart TVs from LG, Sony, Samsung, and Vizio. iOS and Apple TV apps are available here.
Subscription pricing in the U.K. and other European countries is £5.99/€6.99 per month or £59.99/€69.99 for an annual subscription.
The service offers most of the impressive Disney movie and television library, which includes 500 feature films and 7,500+ shows from the Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars libraries, including “The Mandalorian, Frozen I and II, “Star Wars,” and the Marvel superhero films. It should be noted that the available content through the service from country to country, due to content licensing restrictions.
Unfortunately, viewers in Europe won’t be able to view the Disney+ library in full HD or 4K quality, as the streaming service has joined other services in streaming at a lowered bitrate, to help ease the load on the continent’s broadband networks.
As the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has forced folks to work from home, the broadband networks in the region have faced a heavy strain on resources. Folks have also turned to streaming networks such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+ to pass the time, increasing the load on the networks.
While Disney+ was also scheduled to launch in France today, the rollout of the service there has been delayed by two weeks by request of the French government. The service will now launch in the country the week of April 7.
Disney expects to launch the service in other Western European countries later this summer. Those countries are expected to include Belgium, Portugal, and more.