Discovery plans to launch its streaming service Discovery+ in Germany and Austria in summer 2022.
The cooperation partner is pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland, which will offer Discovery+ as an app on its TV platforms Sky Q and Sky X (Austria) as well as on smart TV Sky Glass when it launches in Germany and Austria.
Sky Q and future Sky Glass customers who register for Discovery+ will be able to use the app for 12 months at no additional cost.
The distribution agreement is part of an extended partnership between Sky Deutschland and Discovery ensuring the further carriage of Discovery Channel on the Sky platform in the coming years.
After Vodafone, Sky is the second partner to offer Discovery+ in Germany.
Discovery is already active in the German streaming market with Joyn, a joint venture with ProSiebenSat.1. This seems to be unaffected by the Discovery+ launch, at least for now.
Asked whether Discovery will remain a Joyn shareholder, a Discovery spokesperson told Broadband TV News: “The global roll-out of Discovery+ and associated partnerships are a milestone in Discovery’s strategy of increasing its focus on digital distribution channels and D2C offerings. In Germany, we already have an OTT service in the market with Joyn, our joint venture with P7S1, which is in line with our D2C strategy. Independently, we have continued our plans to launch D+ in the German market with strong partners.”