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Discovery+

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Discovery+
Logo for the Discovery+ service.
Logo used since 2021
Screenshot
Discovery+ homepage on January 4, 2021
Type of site
OTT streaming platform
Available in11 languages
List of languages
FoundedMarch 23, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-03-23)
Predecessor(s)
List
Country of originUnited States
Area servedCanada, United States, and parts of Asia-Pacific and Europe (see full list of countries)
OwnerDiscovery, Inc. (2020–2022)
Warner Bros. Discovery (2022–present)
Key peopleDavid Zaslav (President & CEO; Warner Bros. Discovery)
Industry
Products
Services
  • Film production
  • Film distribution
  • Television production
  • Television distribution
ParentWarner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment
URLwww.discoveryplus.com
RegistrationRequired/Free (content varies in most countries)
UsersIncrease 24 million (as of March 31, 2022)
LaunchedJanuary 4, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-01-04)
Current statusActive

Discovery+ (pronounced "Discovery Plus"; stylized as discovery+) is an American multinational subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).[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 television 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 April 1, 2022, Discovery+ has 24 million subscribers.[2]

Discovery+ became a sister service to WarnerMedia's HBO Max following their merger in April 2022. HBO Max was relaunched as Max the following year, adding Discovery content to its library. While WBD originally planned to discontinue Discovery+ in favor of Max, the company elected to continue offering Discovery+ because it was still profitable.[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] Following the merger, selected Discovery library programs had begun to appear on HBO Max.[17]

In August 2022, Perrette announced that a 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."[18] In November 2022, it was announced that the new service would now launch in spring 2023.[19][20] In early-December 2022, it was reported by CNBC via inside sources that the unified platform was being developed under the codename "BEAM", and that multiple names were being considered—including simply "Max".[21][22]

In February 2023, Zaslav stated during an earnings call that WBD no longer planned to shut down Discovery+ in favor of the merged service, due to its profitability and low churn. He explained that its customers were "very happy with the product offering", and asked, "why would we shut that off?".[17] The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier in the month that WBD had planned to continue operating Discovery+ in conjunction with the new service, which was expected to have a higher price than HBO Max, and would feature "most", but not all, of the content of Discovery+.[23] Max was officially unveiled on April 12, 2023, for a U.S. launch on May 23.[24] In contrast to WBD's plans to keep Discovery+ operational in at least the United States, Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific announced in March 2023 that Discovery+ would be discontinued in the Philippines on April 27, 2023, in favor of the local HBO Go service; WBD had announced an Asia-Pacific launch for Max on November 19, 2024.[25][26][27][28]

Max will integrate Eurosport and Discovery+ content in 2024 in 24 countries that currently offer HBO Max & Discovery+ in Europe.[29]

Discovery+ will be wound down in Europe in Max markets including the UK where it will launch in 2025.[30]

Discovery+ will close permanently in Spain,and the Netherlands on 9th December.[31] [32]

On November 18 and 19, 2024, some Brazilian websites have announced that Discovery+ would cease operations in Brazil on January 31, 2025 with its content moving to Max.[33][34][35]

Programming

Original programming

Main article: List of Discovery+ original programming

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

Content library

The library of Discovery+ is drawn primarily from the original programming of Warner Bros. Discovery's 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[36]—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.[37]

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 only a month after its launch due to its conflicts with the merged company's OTT strategy.[38]

Sports

In selected European territories, Discovery+ offers sports content via Warner Bros. Discovery's Eurosport and TNT Sports networks, subsuming Eurosport's previous streaming platform Eurosport Player.[39][40] The service began to subsume GolfTV following its December 2022 shutdown.[41]

Also, in September 2023, BT Group and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that the BT Sport app and web player would close on October 12, 2023, making Discovery+ the new streaming home for TNT Sports.[42][43]

In February 2024, MotorTrend+ was shut down and its content and subscribers were migrated to Discovery+.[44]

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/Series X/S gaming consoles, and through Android and iOS apps.[45]

Launch

Launch rollout timeline
Country/Territory Release date Discontinuation date Release partner(s)
India March 23, 2020 — None
Ireland October 10, 2020
United Kingdom BT Group[46][47]
Armenia December 2020 MEGOGO[48]
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Lithuania
Moldova
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
United States January 4, 2021 Verizon
Denmark January 5, 2021 Ex-Dplay
Finland
Italy
Netherlands January 5, 2021 December 9, 2024
Norway
Spain January 5, 2021 December 9, 2024
Sweden
Poland player.pl[49]
Turkey May 5, 2021[50] BluTV
Estonia May 20, 2021 Go3[51]
MEGOGO[52]
Latvia
Lithuania
Philippines October 13, 2021[53] April 27, 2023[25] Globe[54]
Canada October 19, 2021[55] — Corus Entertainment
Brazil November 9, 2021[56][57] January 31, 2025[58] Globoplay
Claro
Austria June 28, 2022[59] — Sky
Germany
Israel September 14, 2022[60] yes
Sting+

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.[61][62]

It is planned that Discovery+ will be available on Sky Glass, Sky Q and Sky X in Austria and Germany by mid-2022.[63]

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.[46][47][64]

In August 2022, Brazilian website vcfaz.tv has said that Discovery+ will launch in Brazil on September 1, but Discovery has denied this.[65] It was then confirmed by Discovery that Discovery+'s launch date in Brazil would be November 9, 2021.[56][57]

At the beginning of 2021 it was announced that Discovery+ would launch and become available to Vodafone customers in Romania, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary and Iceland sometime in the middle of 2022.[66] However as of 2024 the launch of Discovery+ in these regions has yet to happen, with the possibility that the launch was instead cancelled due to (HBO) Max being already available in all these regions, excluding Greece and Iceland, shortly before the creation of Warner Bros. Discovery and the fact that Vodafone had already distribution deals for (HBO) Max and its content in said regions, including for Greece where neither service has launched yet.

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.[67][68] 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.[68][69]

See also

References

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  9. ^ Hayes, Dade (December 2, 2020). "Discovery Reveals Streaming Rollout Plan For Discovery+, With Verizon Deal In Place For January U.S. Launch". Deadline. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  10. ^ Linares, Iván (January 5, 2021). "La app de Dplay cambia a Discovery+ y pasa de ser gratuita a ofrecer contenido 'premium'". Xataka Móvil (in Spanish). Archived from the original on January 5, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
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  50. ^ "Stratejik ortağımız discovery+'ın içerikleriyle platformumuz büyümeye devam ediyor! discovery+ 5 Mayıs'ta BluTV'de! (Our platform continues to grow with the contents of our strategic partner discovery+! discovery+ is on BluTV on May 5th!)". Twitter. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
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  65. ^ "Discovery+ dará 30% de desconto em pré-venda. Saiba a data de estreia do serviço". vcfaz.tv (in Portuguese). August 14, 2021. Archived from the original on August 14, 2021. Retrieved August 14, 2021. O grupo Discovery entrou em contato com a redação VCFAZ.TV para informar que, ao contrário do publicado no site oficial, não está confirmada a pré-venda para o período de 17 a 31 de agosto e a estreia no dia 1º de setembro. Novas informações devem ser publicada em breve.
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  69. ^ Dehnart, Andy (March 11, 2021). "Restaurant Impossible back on Food Network after its move to Discovery+ is reversed". Reality Blurred. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
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