Newly launched streaming service discovery+ will go global on January 4 with a rollout of non-scripted content across 25 countries.
Already available in the United Kingdom via Sky, the additional territories will be rolled out across the year, starting with the United States and also including the Nordics, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. There are also launches slated for Latin American markets, Brazil, and parts of Asia.
“We see compelling white space to offer consumers everywhere a broad and unique unscripted streaming product.
“We believe the service will be a perfect complement to every household’s streaming portfolio and additive to the market everywhere in the world,” said David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery, Inc.
In contrast to the established Netflix and recent additions Disney+ and Peacock, discovery+ will work through the genres familiar to viewers of Discovery and its range of factual channels: home, food, true crime, adventure, relationships, natural history, science and the environment.
In Italy, Discovery has made a distribution deal with Telecom Italia, while in the United States there’s a partnership with Verizon. Verizon customers will receive up to 12 months of discovery+ on select plans in a deal similar to the Sky partnership where it is available free of charge for its first 12 months.
Zaslav said the agreement with Sky, where discovery+ is available to Sky Q customers, was “exceeding expectations” on both sides.
In addition to local operators, discovery+ is going direct-to-consumer through TVs, web, mobile and tablets.
Besides Discovery itself there will be content from A+E, History and Lifetime. Across Europe this also means Eurosport and its coverage of the Olympics that will be gradually rolled out across the continent.
Discovery+ will also be an outlet for local entertainment channels, such as Kanal 5 in Sweden, TV Norge in Norway, SBS6 and Veronica in the Netherlands and The Voice in Bulgaria.
In the United States, two versions of discovery+ will be available, a $4.99 ad-supported version and a $6.99 commercial free edition. Outside of the United States, there will be different combinations of ad supported and commercial free services. In some markets there will also be a free tier as the existing D Play brand is harmonised with the new discovery+ brand.
In some European countries, the monthly subscription fee is set at €3.99 or €39.99 for an annual subscription, but pricing may vary across territories. Subscribers to the DPlay service will automatically be transferred to the new platform.
