Discovery Inc. has officially launched ‘Discovery +’, its new SVOD OTT, on January 4th, now available in the US as a D2C product, and in Europe. The international launch of the platform, which will include Latin American countries, including Brazil, is scheduled for 2021 and 2022.
The official launch of Discovery+ in the US took place together with several distribution agreements, which make the platform available on various platforms and devices from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Roku and Samsung smart TVs. In the North American country, the D2C OTT supports two monthly subscription models: one with advertisements, for USD 4.99; and another without advertising, for USD 6.99. In turn, the company announced agreements to distribute Discovery+ with Vodafone in 12 European countries; with Verizon in the US and with Sky in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
As reported from Discovery, in addition to the US, the SVOD OTT is already available for Vodafone TV and telephony customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Romania, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland and Iceland . Likewise, Discovery announced that the platform will be launched as a standalone product throughout 2021 in more than 25 countries, including the Nordic countries, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and countries in Asia and Latin America, including Brazil.
As reported during 2020, for its launch, Discovery + made a catalog of around a thousand hours of original content and classic titles from Discovery channels, including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), Travel Channel, Animal Planet and others, as well as content from A&E, History Channel, Lifetime, and others. From Discovery they reported that they will offer a wide range of non-fiction and entertainment content based on real life, including documentaries and BBC productions. In Europe, Discovery+ will offer access to Eurosport, its sports channel that features tennis, motorcycling, football and other sports competitions. In addition, the new platform will be the official European screen for the Tokyo Olympic Games.