Discovery+

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Discovery+
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Screenshot
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Discovery+ homepage on January 4, 2021
Web address www.discoveryplus.com
Type of site
 OTT streaming platform
Registration Required/Free (content varies in most countries)
Owner Warner Bros. Discovery
Launched January 4, 2021; 4 years ago (2021-01-04) (U.S.)
Current status Active

Discovery+ (pronounced "Discovery Plus"; stylized as discovery+) is an American streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.[1] The service focuses on factual programming drawn from the libraries of Discovery's main channel brands, as well as original series (including spin-offs of programs from Discovery's networks), and other acquired content.

It was first launched in India on March 23, 2020. It launched in the United States on January 4, 2021, and replaced Discovery's Dplay and Eurosport Player services in Europe the next day. As of March 31, 2022, Discovery+ has 24 million subscribers.[2]

Discovery+ became a sister service to WarnerMedia's HBO Max following their merger in April 2022. The two services are expected to merge in spring 2023.[3]

History

Discovery first launched Discovery+ in India on March 23, 2020, and included content from Discovery's various brands.[4] In September of the same year, Discovery announced plans to launch an international version of Discovery+ in early 2021.[5]

In October 2020, it was announced that Dplay would be renamed Discovery+ in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the following month.[6][7]

On January 4, 2021, Discovery+ launched in the U.S. with both a paid ad-supported plan and an ad-free plan.[8][9] On January 5, 2021, Discovery+ launched in eight European territories, subsuming Dplay and the Eurosport Player services.[10][11][12][13][14]

In an earnings call on November 3, 2021, president and CEO of Discovery Streaming and International JB Perrette discussed potential options for the service following the then-proposed spin-off and merger of WarnerMedia into Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery. These involved a bundling and/or eventual merger of Discovery+ with WarnerMedia's streaming service HBO Max, and offering such a merged service in markets where Discovery+ has yet to launch, such as other parts of the Asia-Pacific region.[15] On March 14, 2022, after Discovery shareholders approved the merger, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated that the merged company planned to pursue a merger of HBO Max with Discovery+ as a long-term goal, following the process proposed by Perrette earlier.[16]

In August 2022, Perrette announced that the merged service would launch in the United States "next summer", if not sooner, followed by Latin America in late-2023, HBO Max's European markets in early-2024, and additional Asia-Pacific and European markets. Perrette stated that HBO Max and Discovery+ had complimentary scopes targeting "appointment viewing" and "comfort viewing" respectively, and thus described the unified service as being "an unprecedented combination in an already crowded market."[17] In November 2022, it was announced that the new service will now launch in spring 2023.[18]

Programming

Original programming

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Main article: List of Discovery+ original programming

Original programming carried by Discovery+ includes spin-offs of programs from Warner Bros. Discovery's factual networks.

Content library

The library of Discovery+ is drawn primarily from the original programming of Warner Bros. Discovery's factual channel brands, including but not limited to Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, Travel Channel, Magnolia Network, HGTV, Food Network, Investigation Discovery, CNN, and other international brands where applicable such as Asian Food Network.

In the U.S., Discovery+ has also licensed non-scripted programming from A&E Networks—including A&E, History, and Lifetime programs[19]—and NBCUniversal Global Distribution—including American Ninja Warrior, The Biggest Loser, Flipping Out, Queer Eye, The Real Housewives of Melbourne, Cheshire, Johannesburg, Top Chef Canada (which is produced for the Canadian version of Food Network), and WAGS.[20]

On August 4, 2022, WBD announced that a CNN content hub featuring a selection of its original series and documentaries would be added to the service. CNN had attempted to launch a streaming service, CNN+, during the lead-up to the WarnerMedia/Discovery merger, but it was discontinued by Perrette and new CNN head Chris Licht after only operating for a month for being incompatible with the merged company's over-the-top strategies.[21]

Sports

In selected European territories, Discovery+ offers sports content via Warner Bros. Discovery's Eurosport networks, subsuming Eurosport's previous streaming platform Eurosport Player.[22][23]

Device support and service features

Discovery+ is available through traditional Windows/macOS web browsers, the major digital media player platforms (such as Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast), Android TV, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S gaming consoles, and through Android and iOS apps.[24]

Launch

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In October 2021, Discovery announced that Discovery+ would launch in Canada on October 19. Corus Entertainment (which is the Canadian licensee for most of Discovery's lifestyle brands) is a marketing partner for the service, and has promoted Discovery+ via its television networks, digital platforms, and radio. Discovery stated that over a thousand episodes of programming would be available with French-language subtitles at launch.[25][26]

It is planned that Discovery+ will be available on Sky Glass, Sky Q and Sky X in Austria and Germany and to Vodafone customers in Romania, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary and Iceland by mid-2022.[27][28]

In May 2022, it was announced that BT Group would become a distribution partner for the service in the UK, as part of a planned joint venture between Eurosport and BT Sport.[29][30][31]

In August, Brazilian website vcfaz.tv has said that Discovery+ will launch in Brazil on September 1, but Discovery has denied this.[32] It was then confirmed by Discovery that Discovery+'s launch date in Brazil would be November 9, 2021.[33][34]

Template:Highlighted world map by country
  Available
  Available as content hub
  Confirmed launch
Launch rollout timeline
Release date Country/Territory Release partner(s)
March 23, 2020 India None
October 10, 2020 United Kingdom BT Group[30][31]
Ireland None
December 2020 Armenia MEGOGO[35]
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Estonia
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Lithuania
Moldova
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
January 4, 2021 United States Verizon
January 5, 2021 Denmark None
Finland
Netherlands
Italy
Norway
Spain
Sweden
Poland player.pl[36]
May 5, 2021[37] Turkey BluTV (tr)
May 20, 2021 Estonia Go3[38]
Latvia
Lithuania
June 18, 2021 Latvia MEGOGO[39]
October 13, 2021[40] Philippines Globe[41]
October 19, 2021[42] Canada Corus Entertainment
November 9, 2021[33][34] Brazil Globoplay
Claro
June 28, 2022[43] Austria Sky
Germany
September 14, 2022[44] Israel yes
Sting TV
Spring 2023[citation needed] Czech Republic Vodafone[citation needed]
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Portugal
Romania
TBA[citation needed] Bahrain Starzplay[45][46][47]
Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
North Africa

Criticism

There was criticism of the service at launch by some viewers of the networks and industry analysts, especially concerns that existing Discovery programming is being taken away from cable and satellite viewers and is being placed behind an additional paywall that may be inaccessible to viewers without robust broadband plans, or are in rural areas with little access to broadband, which in turn may imperil future carriage of those channels by Discovery's provider partners.[48][49] Other viewers have criticized Discovery's bait-and-switch tactics in forcing them to sign up for Discovery+ to have the 'full experience' of a series, as is being done for various Discovery+ spin-offs of 90 Day Fiancé, along with obtrusive Discovery+ advertising throughout the broadcast day (including a lower third sized banner in the top-right corner during actual programming) of many Discovery networks.[49][50] A lesser concern has been the audio quality of shows on the service, which are streamed in basic stereo rather than surround sound offered on their original cable broadcasts.

See also

References

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External links

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