Update (2:45 p.m. Eastern): Disney's challenged this report, telling Tom's Guide that Disney Plus will support Chromebooks and Android after all.
Remember when we found out about a free Disney Plus for the Netherlands? Well, we've got the first bit of bad news from one of those users, and it's about Chromebooks.
LiveJournal user hansdegoede wrote a post explaining Disney Plus DRM prevents him from using the service on a Chromebook. The first roadblock he found — Error Code 83 — was tied to how all of the devices in his house run Fedora (a distribution of Linux you may have heard of for the first time in this post).
After poking around online, the user found a forum that details how Disney Plus relies on the Widevine DRM technology. Specifically, Disney Plus requires Level 1 Widevine, but Cord Cutter News confirmed that Chromebooks, Linux devices and some older Android devices don't offer Level 1 Widevine, stopping at Level 3 instead.
PlayStation Vue used to have this issue, but later downgraded the version of Widevine it required.
Will Disney Plus remedy this situation, or simply write off these audiences? While older Android streaming devices and Linux might not be a tantalizing demographic, I expect that the company will want to get on Chromebooks, which are increasingly popular in schools. That also means they're popular with the families that Disney Plus wants to court.
This isn't the only major gap in the Disney Plus supported devices list: Amazon Fire TV devices are also currently out in the cold, according to the original Disney Plus press release. That could change, though, as reports claim that Disney and Amazon are simply stuck in negotiations about ad revenue.
Tom's Guide has contacted Disney to see if the company can provide additional information about the Chromebook issue. Disney Plus arrives on Nov. 12.
