Discovery + streaming service
#1
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Discovery + streaming service
Yes, yet another paid streaming service. Bitch, moan and complain away. 
https://variety.com/2020/digital/new...es-1234844284/


https://variety.com/2020/digital/new...es-1234844284/

Discovery expects its forthcoming Discovery Plus streaming service to have an addressable market in the U.S. of at least 70 million homes — and at least 400 million households globally.
That’s based on the assumption that there are 300 million broadband-only homes in the United States and about 80 million pay-TV homes, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said in a presentation for investors.
“All of a sudden, with this product, we’re able to address a much, much larger global community here,” he said.
Wiedenfels said over the long term “once we hit scale,” Discovery Plus is expected to deliver margins of 20%. In the U.S., Discovery Plus will launch Jan. 4 with a monthly price of $4.99 with ads and $6.99 without ads.
Discovery’s average revenue per pay-TV household in the U.S. is $7 per month, Wiedenfels said, and “I’m very confident that, with our Discovery Plus product, we’re going to be able to achieve at least that same ARPU number — if not more — and that can be achieved even in the near term.” He estimated that Discovery Plus ad rates, thanks to digital targeting, will be three times what the cabler gets for linear pay TV.
“This is our future. This is the most important product since I’ve gotten here,” said Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who joined the company in 2007.
Zaslav acknowledged that the company isn’t sure to extent to which Discovery Plus might cannibalize its pay-TV business, but he asserted that the streaming service is “a dominating and compelling offer for people” that many consumers will subscribe to in addition to linear TV. Asked about the potential for cannibalization, Zaslav said, “We’ll see, but people love our channels… We’ve never been stronger to the cable bundle.” He claimed that Discovery’s networks are “effectively like the NFL times five right now for women.”
In the U.S., Verizon is a key launch partner for Discovery Plus, which will be free for 12 months to the telco’s customers on select plans. The pact is an “an incredible endorsement, I think, for our product [and] an amazing opportunity to get access to a large number of homes very, very quickly,” Wiedenfels said. Verizon will pay an undisclosed per-subscriber fee to Discovery under the deal. The 12-month-free Discovery Plus offer will be available to new Verizon 5G Home Internet and Fios Gigabit subs, as well as new and existing wireless customers with a Play More or Get More Unlimited plan. For Disney Plus’ U.S. launch, Verizon had offered the service free for one year to all unlimited wireless subscribers.
Discovery Plus, stocked with unscripted and non-fiction programming, is “completely differentiated from great services like Disney [Plus], great services like Netflix, we’re a great companion to them,” Zaslav said. “We fill out the entertainment pie… with all of our brands and characters.”
For now, Discovery does not have deals to distribute Discovery Plus on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, but the media company is in talks with those companies and others, Wiedenfels said.
In 2020, Discovery’s direct-to-consumer services will generate $800 million of revenue with losses from the investments in the streaming initiatives in the $500 million range, according to Wiedenfels. For 2021, the company expects to incur an additional $200 million-$300 million hit to earnings (on top of its $500 million annual investment run rate) with the investment in Discovery Plus. He declined to provide a top-line forecast but said Discovery expects “significant” revenue growth for 2021.
Currently, Discovery has 5.2 million streaming subscribers worldwide, up threefold from 2018, most of which are (or will convert to) Discovery Plus customers. In the U.S., the company’s direct-to-consumer streaming services are Food Network Kitchen and MotorTrend OnDemand; in Europe, it has offered Eurosport Player and Dplay, which will be converted to Discovery Plus.
All told, in the U.S., Discovery Plus will offer more than 55,000 episodes from Discovery’s channels (including Discovery Channel, TLC, Food Network, HGTV and Animal Planet) as well as the BBC’s Natural History collection, A&E Networks and Group Nine. At launch, the service is slated to have some 50 originals, including an exclusive first look at content from the Magnolia Network, the forthcoming multiplatform joint venture with Chip and Joanna Gaines. In Europe, the streaming service will become the streaming home of the Olympics in the region starting with the Tokyo Olympic Games next year.
“We will be spending more on an aggregate level” on content, Wiedenfels said, without quantifying the increase. He added that the company expects some originals first windowed on Discovery Plus to eventually hit linear TV channels as well.
Last month, Discovery Plus launched in the U.K. and Ireland and debuted in India in early 2020. In the U.K., Sky is currently offering the service to its Sky Q customers for 12 months at no extra cost, and Discovery has a deal with TIM in Italy for its launch in the country in early 2021.
Overall, Discovery plans to launch the direct-to-consumer offering across more than 25 markets in 2021, including the Nordics, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Discovery Plus will also launch in Latin American markets, including a planned launch in Brazil, and in parts of Asia.
That’s based on the assumption that there are 300 million broadband-only homes in the United States and about 80 million pay-TV homes, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said in a presentation for investors.
“All of a sudden, with this product, we’re able to address a much, much larger global community here,” he said.
Wiedenfels said over the long term “once we hit scale,” Discovery Plus is expected to deliver margins of 20%. In the U.S., Discovery Plus will launch Jan. 4 with a monthly price of $4.99 with ads and $6.99 without ads.
Discovery’s average revenue per pay-TV household in the U.S. is $7 per month, Wiedenfels said, and “I’m very confident that, with our Discovery Plus product, we’re going to be able to achieve at least that same ARPU number — if not more — and that can be achieved even in the near term.” He estimated that Discovery Plus ad rates, thanks to digital targeting, will be three times what the cabler gets for linear pay TV.
“This is our future. This is the most important product since I’ve gotten here,” said Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who joined the company in 2007.
Zaslav acknowledged that the company isn’t sure to extent to which Discovery Plus might cannibalize its pay-TV business, but he asserted that the streaming service is “a dominating and compelling offer for people” that many consumers will subscribe to in addition to linear TV. Asked about the potential for cannibalization, Zaslav said, “We’ll see, but people love our channels… We’ve never been stronger to the cable bundle.” He claimed that Discovery’s networks are “effectively like the NFL times five right now for women.”
In the U.S., Verizon is a key launch partner for Discovery Plus, which will be free for 12 months to the telco’s customers on select plans. The pact is an “an incredible endorsement, I think, for our product [and] an amazing opportunity to get access to a large number of homes very, very quickly,” Wiedenfels said. Verizon will pay an undisclosed per-subscriber fee to Discovery under the deal. The 12-month-free Discovery Plus offer will be available to new Verizon 5G Home Internet and Fios Gigabit subs, as well as new and existing wireless customers with a Play More or Get More Unlimited plan. For Disney Plus’ U.S. launch, Verizon had offered the service free for one year to all unlimited wireless subscribers.
Discovery Plus, stocked with unscripted and non-fiction programming, is “completely differentiated from great services like Disney [Plus], great services like Netflix, we’re a great companion to them,” Zaslav said. “We fill out the entertainment pie… with all of our brands and characters.”
For now, Discovery does not have deals to distribute Discovery Plus on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, but the media company is in talks with those companies and others, Wiedenfels said.
In 2020, Discovery’s direct-to-consumer services will generate $800 million of revenue with losses from the investments in the streaming initiatives in the $500 million range, according to Wiedenfels. For 2021, the company expects to incur an additional $200 million-$300 million hit to earnings (on top of its $500 million annual investment run rate) with the investment in Discovery Plus. He declined to provide a top-line forecast but said Discovery expects “significant” revenue growth for 2021.
Currently, Discovery has 5.2 million streaming subscribers worldwide, up threefold from 2018, most of which are (or will convert to) Discovery Plus customers. In the U.S., the company’s direct-to-consumer streaming services are Food Network Kitchen and MotorTrend OnDemand; in Europe, it has offered Eurosport Player and Dplay, which will be converted to Discovery Plus.
All told, in the U.S., Discovery Plus will offer more than 55,000 episodes from Discovery’s channels (including Discovery Channel, TLC, Food Network, HGTV and Animal Planet) as well as the BBC’s Natural History collection, A&E Networks and Group Nine. At launch, the service is slated to have some 50 originals, including an exclusive first look at content from the Magnolia Network, the forthcoming multiplatform joint venture with Chip and Joanna Gaines. In Europe, the streaming service will become the streaming home of the Olympics in the region starting with the Tokyo Olympic Games next year.
“We will be spending more on an aggregate level” on content, Wiedenfels said, without quantifying the increase. He added that the company expects some originals first windowed on Discovery Plus to eventually hit linear TV channels as well.
Last month, Discovery Plus launched in the U.K. and Ireland and debuted in India in early 2020. In the U.K., Sky is currently offering the service to its Sky Q customers for 12 months at no extra cost, and Discovery has a deal with TIM in Italy for its launch in the country in early 2021.
Overall, Discovery plans to launch the direct-to-consumer offering across more than 25 markets in 2021, including the Nordics, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Discovery Plus will also launch in Latin American markets, including a planned launch in Brazil, and in parts of Asia.
#2
DVD Talk God
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
About the only way I use this is free. I appreciate Verizon adding value to their plans.
#3
Moderator
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
#4
Moderator
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
#5
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
I’m checking out the 7 day free trial with no commercials. Wow this actually has some stuff I’m interested in. It has the entire old Travel channel library including Samantha Brown, Andrew Zimmerman and Anthony Bourdain’s old shows, It also has the entire Food Network library as well. It also includes most of Food Network Star and other Food competitions. There’s also Cooking Channel and several others.
Fuck, I don’t need another service, but this has a lot of good stuff.
I’m a big enthusiast of lifestyle, food and travel shows. This is going to be way too hard to pass on.
Fuck, I don’t need another service, but this has a lot of good stuff.

Last edited by DJariya; 01-04-21 at 01:57 AM.
#6
Moderator
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
They've got a ton of stuff on this. Fans of classic Travel Channel, Food Network & HGTV shows will love this. They have complete runs of stuff like Passport to Europe, No Reservations, Unwrapped, Good Eats, Iron Chef America, 30 Minute Meals, Toy Hunter, Mythbusters.
Unfortunately, they're missing some cool classics like Great Hotels and the original Iron Chef. And they don't have shows from blackballed hosts like Molto Mario and Paula's Home Cooking.
There's some limited stuff from other channels like History, A&E and Lifetime. Duck Dynasty, Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Storage Wars, Hoarders, Dance Moms, etc. But it's just 3-4 seasons of each show.
Starting on January 29th, they're going to have some Channels for popular shows that play episodes nonstop. They've announced channels for House Hunters, House Hunters International, Fixer Upper, Chopped, 90 Day Fiance.
They have some UHD 4K content on Fire TV and Apple TV. They say it's mostly Nature and Animal shows. Hopefully they add Roku support and more shows.
You can create 5 profiles. And they allow 4 streams at a time.
Unfortunately, they're missing some cool classics like Great Hotels and the original Iron Chef. And they don't have shows from blackballed hosts like Molto Mario and Paula's Home Cooking.
There's some limited stuff from other channels like History, A&E and Lifetime. Duck Dynasty, Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Storage Wars, Hoarders, Dance Moms, etc. But it's just 3-4 seasons of each show.
Starting on January 29th, they're going to have some Channels for popular shows that play episodes nonstop. They've announced channels for House Hunters, House Hunters International, Fixer Upper, Chopped, 90 Day Fiance.
They have some UHD 4K content on Fire TV and Apple TV. They say it's mostly Nature and Animal shows. Hopefully they add Roku support and more shows.
You can create 5 profiles. And they allow 4 streams at a time.
#7
Moderator
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be eligible for the free Verizon subscription since I'm on some weird legacy unlimited plan.
The following users liked this post:
DJariya (01-04-21)
#8
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
I checked my Verizon add-ons and I qualify for the free year. I'll be checking this out tonight.
#9
Banned by request
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
Since the majority of the shows my wife and I watch are in these networks, kind of seems like a no brainer to sign up for this. Damn, they got it down right out of the gate. This is a great app, very well organized.
#11
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
EDIT: Looks like 12 months is only for Get More Unlimited plan. Which I don't need. My house is not even in regular 5g area, and miles away from Ultra Wideband. Oh well. I'll wait and see if they bump it to 12 later.
Last edited by IDrinkMolson; 01-04-21 at 11:50 AM.
#13
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
Yeah I have the Get More plan... Way more data than I need but it gave me 50% off a jetpack so it ended up being the same price.
#14
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
I watched Race Across the World last night, which is branded as a Discovery plus original, but looks like a UK import. It’s a competition show with people racing from London to Singapore. But the catch is unlike The Amazing Race is they cannot fly and only have a budget of 1300 pounds for the entire trip. They are allowed to work to make additional funds if they start running low on money.
The first episode was quite good. Not as frenetic as Amazing Race, but it’s fun seeing how creative these people get with directions and transportation.
The series is 6 episodes. There’s no host, but John Hannah is the narrator.
The grand prize is 12000 pounds or around $16000.
The first episode was quite good. Not as frenetic as Amazing Race, but it’s fun seeing how creative these people get with directions and transportation.
The series is 6 episodes. There’s no host, but John Hannah is the narrator.
The grand prize is 12000 pounds or around $16000.
#15
Moderator
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
I found some episodes of the Japanese Iron Chef. But it's from the 2012 reboot. There's 13 episodes (English Dub).
https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/iron-chef
https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/iron-chef
#16
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
Looks like they launched before their app was available for Xbox and Android TV. At least it is up for iOS and will stream over Chromecast. The fam loves Food Network competitions.

#17
DVD Talk God
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
Signed up for free through Verizon plan. Not bad. Has a ton of content. Not anything I would pay for probably, but I will take a year free.
Last edited by Deftones; 01-04-21 at 09:23 PM.
#18
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
Here's the trailer for Race across the World if you're looking for something new to watch
Don't search the show online as it aired in the UK in 2019 to avoid spoilers.
I'm on episode 2 now.
Don't search the show online as it aired in the UK in 2019 to avoid spoilers.
I'm on episode 2 now.
#19
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
#20
Moderator
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
I can't find any episodes of House Hunters and House Hunters International. There's just an announcement for the upcoming channel. I can't believe they don't have individual episodes available.
https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/house-hunters
https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/h...-international
https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/house-hunters
https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/h...-international
#21
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
Thanks for the heads up. I've been binging HH International on YouTube TV VOD and thought about trying D+ just to finish it out (which I don't think is actually humanly possible)
#22
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
I just finished the entire season of Race across the World. It was great. If you're a fan of travel and the Amazing Race on CBS, I highly recommend it. Very exciting season and way better than the most recent season of The Amazing Race.
It's only 6 episodes, but each one is about 59 minutes, so it's a lot of viewing.
It's only 6 episodes, but each one is about 59 minutes, so it's a lot of viewing.
#23
DVD Talk God
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
They brought back Monster Garage for this.

#24
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
I noticed a couple shows that I watch on Travel Channel (via Hulu Live) are moving to Discovery+ exclusively.
It’s somewhat disappointing, and it makes me wonder what value Travel Channel has now. But I’m not dedicated to these shows so I’m not going to subscribe to this streaming service.
It’s somewhat disappointing, and it makes me wonder what value Travel Channel has now. But I’m not dedicated to these shows so I’m not going to subscribe to this streaming service.
#25
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Re: Discovery + streaming service - Coming January 4, 2021
I noticed a couple shows that I watch on Travel Channel (via Hulu Live) are moving to Discovery+ exclusively.
It’s somewhat disappointing, and it makes me wonder what value Travel Channel has now. But I’m not dedicated to these shows so I’m not going to subscribe to this streaming service.
It’s somewhat disappointing, and it makes me wonder what value Travel Channel has now. But I’m not dedicated to these shows so I’m not going to subscribe to this streaming service.
I know you're pretty frugal with the money you spend on streaming services, but from having this over a week now, I'm enjoying it. There's thousands of hours of travel, cooking, lifestyle, true crime, documentaries. It's more than you have time to watch. But, I understand that's the problem with having too many streaming services. If you subscribe to more than you have time to watch, you're throwing money away.
And don't you like The Amazing Race? I mentioned my thoughts above about Race across the world.
The following users liked this post:
MLBFan24 (01-11-21)