Discovery’s new streaming service has finally arrived.
The company’s official entry into the streaming wars brought all of Discovery’s assets under one roof, from real crimes to reality TV and nature documentaries. Discovery + hosts tens of thousands of episodes of legacy broadcast channels such as HGTV, History Channel, A&E, Food Network and more. And it’s not just old stuff either: Discovery says it plans to bring more than 1,000 hours of original content to the platform during its first year, with more than 50 exclusives available to the service at launch. This is good enough content to offer potential subscribers from the door.
But the service charges for both its levels without advertising and with ads, which cost $ 5 and $ 7 a month, respectively. You really need to add another payment transfer service to your portfolio, especially when so many others were launched last year? Maybe not. But I encourage everyone to lend a hand to Discovery + before I write it. Not only were their originals and exclusives from the natural world a big draw for me personally, as well as everyone else you are David Attenborough, but Discovery + delivered an excellent product to the release that at least will introduce something new to your limited premium content options.
Now, I’m not sure what your own quarantine content diet has been like, but I’ve survived mostly with the lying television look (I know, I know) and many documentaries about the natural world and space phenomena. I’ll see it anywhere I can find it: Netflix, Apple TV, PBS, anything. If you think so, reader, I have great news: Discovery + is an exact amazement at this kind of thing, thanks to Discovery’s own assets and the BBC’s exclusive programming, which includes The planet Earth, Blue Planet, Serengeti, i The mating game. Attenborough also narrates the original Discovery + A perfect planet, a series of five parts of the same people behind The planet Earth. That alone should be reason enough to activate at least one of the multiples free trial offers the service is currently running.
But this is not all. I was sincerely amazed at how much variety was represented on launch day and the ease of finding things to see by genre or channel. Home page ranks make it easy to find new originals, featured content, trend series, and your custom display list. I want the service to make finding 4K content a little easier. Right now, 4K is limited to a handful of natural world series like Blue Planet II i Planet Earth II on platforms that support it. But we should expect more 4K content on the service, possibly even this year.
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In terms of support, Discovery + had a refreshing and smooth release on most major platforms, including Xbox, Fire TV, Roku, Apple, Android, Samsung smartphones and Chromecast, including its latest version with Google TV. I am currently testing a Vizio OLED TVand while I couldn’t open the app on the TV itself, I was able to stream Discovery + to the TV from my iPhone 11. I asked Discovery if I planned to add support for other smart TVs with proprietary software, including LG i Vizio, aAlthough the company had nothing immediate to share, it looks like Discovery is working on extended support.
Each of Discovery’s dozens of brands has its own bubble in a homepage slider, as do content categories such as lifestyle, adventure and exploration, paranormal and inexplicable, documentaries. , in addition to science and technology, among others. It soon became clear to me that instead of just breaking a bunch of seemingly unaffiliated brands and waiting for it to work (Cough HBO max Cough), Discovery thought a lot about organization and design. It just works.
Now, you may be wondering how, with tens of thousands of episodes available at launch, Discovery sorts out all of its various brands and titles to serve you something. The company uses its own proprietary algorithm that takes into account several factors about its viewing habits, and while it does take into account page views, the company does not specifically comment on how your system works. But when it comes to user-specific content recommendations, it helps Discovery + make user profiles immediately available. Five profiles per account are supported and the service allows up to four simultaneous flows. This means that a subscription could cover almost everyone in an average household.
And what about their originals? You’ll probably know before you sign up if you’re a fan of Chip and Joanna Gaines — and there must be many because Discovery is leaning toward this marriage company. a lot hard, or the kind of kid who wears a tin leaf hat that will tune into a new Project Blue Book series (myself). But I was pleasantly surprised by the number of titles I will definitely add to the watch list I so desperately need to get through what’s left of winter. (I have no hesitation in admitting that these titles include a paranormal joint called Amityville Horror House, but listen, right now we’re doing our best).
Discovery + won’t replace your Netflix subscription, and Discovery’s own leadership has said a lot. But Discovery + is, like CEO David Zaslav described recently, it’s a “perfect complement” to your core portfolio of cable cutting solutions. And who knows! Maybe it will just surprise you. As the streaming releases are released, this one is exceptionally thoughtful.
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- This newly launched broadcast service brings all Discovery assets under one roof, including HGTV, History Channel, A&E, Food Network, Discovery Channel and more.
- Discovery + is the exclusive home of the BBC’s natural programming, which includes a new series by David Attenborough.
- Each profile supports up to five user profiles and four simultaneous streams.
- Both subscription levels get paid, with one offering content with ads for $ 5 a month and another with no ads for $ 7 a month.