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The great streaming war continues to rage in 2021, with the launch of Discovery + on January 4, the final contender for subscribers against Netflix, Amazon, and Disney +. In 2020, three new streaming services (HBO Max, Peacock, and Quibi) were launched, resulting in the war’s first major casualty. Quibi’s $ 2 billion failure after just six months on the market proved it in streaming may be The future of the way we look, not all streaming services are created equal, and big budgets don’t always translate into big audiences. However, where Quibi has never quite found its rhythm, Discovery + seems to have a bright future in the field of streaming by offering a completely different approach than its competitors. While Discovery + lacks successful scripted franchises like Marvel, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones, it excels in the unscripted space when it comes to cooking, nature, and home improvement shows. The Discovery Inc. catalog includes popular cable channels such as HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, BBC’s Natural History Collection, and many more. In fact, David Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery, has revealed that he wants Discovery + to be “the definitive product for unscripted storytelling.” So instead of going for recognizable characters in comics, video games, and books, Zaslav and his company want to own the reality show space, and so far they’ve taken a good start.
For a reasonable price of $ 4.99 per month in the US ($ 6.99 for the ad-free version), you have access to an impressive library of over 55,000 episodes from iconic Discovery brands. Where Quibi has tried to do something completely new with his “quick bites” of TV shows, movies and documentaries, Discovery + sticks to what it does best and what it does. has managed to do this for years, but this time around, all of its diverse unscripted content is seamlessly integrated into one easy-to-use streaming service. It’s missing a few key platform features that we would have liked to see, but overall Discovery + is making a compelling debut in Streaming Wars.
Discovery Plus TV Shows and Movies
With over 55,000 episodes of Discovery’s vast catalog of unscripted series frenzy at launch, there’s no shortage of the streamer in the content department. Discovery + ‘s lineup is very diverse, offering gripping real crime series like American Detective starring Lieutenant Joe Kenda, which offers unique insights into troubling real cases in the United States.
If you prefer home repair and DYI projects, Chip and Joanna Gaines are bringing their bubbly personalities to the Magnolia Network, which will host several new series such as The Courage to Run, Restoration Road with Clint Harp and The Lost Kitchen. Other popular HGTV hosts such as Tarek El Moussa and Christina Anstead of Flip or Flop are featured in the new Discovery + Originals which can only be seen on the streaming service.
And as a brand renowned for releasing breathtaking nature documentaries like the BBC’s Planet Earth and The Blue Planet, it’s no surprise that Discovery is bringing even more nature material to its new platform. form. At launch, A Perfect Planet by David Attenborough and Wild Borneo Adventure by Judi Dench offer a breathtaking glimpse into some of our planet’s most fascinating features like volcanoes and oceans.
Going forward, the streamer is working on several other Discovery + Originals, including an unscripted series called Route 66 with comedian and actor Kevin Hart. According to Discovery, “Route 66 sets Kevin Hart underway, along the famous American Route 66 to see what’s going on with America. He will visit people and places and take friends on an exploration of the heart of the United States. from Chicago to Los Angeles. “
Discovery + user interface
While not revolutionary compared to other streaming services, Discovery + offers an attractive and easy to navigate user interface. The app and website layouts feature a colorful array of logos highlighting the various networks of Discovery Inc. including TLC, Discovery + Originals, History, and more. There is also a “Top Genres” section at the top of the page, which includes links to shows focusing on Lifestyle, Home, Food, Real Crime, Adventure, Relationships, and Nature, to help you find the types of programs you like.
Streaming pillars like adding shows to a “favorites list” and features like “keep watching” are all easily accessible across the platform. Some 4K content is also available at launch at no additional cost (4K content on Netflix costs extra), including on Discovery + Originals and some of the high-production nature series such as Planet Earth and A Perfect Planet. Overall, there’s a lot less 4K content than Netflix or Amazon, but since a lot of the shows are in the reality TV genre, I didn’t expect Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos sound while watching Joanna. Gaines cook home-made comfort food. Of course, it would be nice to have more 4K content, but that’s not a deciding factor for this type of programming.
The only notable omission at launch is the lack of a “download option” for offline viewing. Although a source close to the service has informed IGN that offline viewing options are in the works for 2021, this oversight is hard to ignore as streamers like Amazon and Netflix have made this feature common in recent years.
How and where to watch Discovery Plus:
Discovery + is currently available in the US and UK through its partnership with Sky. The streamer also announced a multi-year deal with Vodaphone in Europe, which will bring the platform to several markets across Europe, including Germany, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland and Iceland. No precise timetable has been revealed for the European deployment. In terms of accessibility, Discovery + can be easily found on many streaming platforms and set-top devices:
Discovery + Price
In terms of price, Discovery + falls into the cheapest tier of streaming services at $ 4.99 per month with ads and a modest $ 6.99 for the ad-free version. For 55,000 binge episodes at launch, we’d say that’s a pretty good deal considering streaming services like Apple TV + launched with only a handful of shows for the same price. And while there is (at the time of writing) a 7-day and even 12-month free trial for qualified Verizon Wireless customers, it would have been nice to see Discovery + offer a limited ‘free tier’, just like Peacock introduced in August 2020.
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