We’ve been hearing about Discovery’s plan to launch a streaming service that would feature content from across its portfolio of brands since November 2019. Now, Discovery CEO David Zaslav says we’ll finally get an update on the service next month.
During today’s Q3 earnings call, Zaslav said “The whole company has been focused on this, so in early December, we’ll come out with the whole package.” In December, Zaslav says we’ll get information about who Discovery has been working with and why the company believes its service will be able to thrive in the crowded streaming landscape.
Zaslav fielded questions about the service during Discovery’s quarterly earnings call in August when he compared it to “a new SUV” compared to “sportscars” like Netflix and other top streaming services. He explained that the plan is for the new service to be “useful every day,” suggesting that viewers will find series and movies that they’ll want to keep coming back to, rather than new shows that might find subscribers binge watching but not rewatching.
During the Goldman Sachs conference in September, Zaslav said, “For us, we’re going to be coming with a fresh library of content, a huge amount of fresh originals at a time when the road has been paved by Netflix and Disney and HBO, and people are getting more and more acclimated to viewing content on devices.”
At that time, Zaslav shared that the company was working on original content and building up a content library. In the US, Discovery’s portfolio of networks includes Discovery, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, OWN, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Motortrend, Science Channel, DIY, Cooking Channel, Discovery Family, American Heroes, Destination America, Discovery Life, Discovery en Español, Discovery Familia, Great American Country, and Magnolia Network. Discovery also owns a list of digital brands, along with Discovery Studios which “creates, develops and produces high-quality, innovative original series, specials and short-form content across multiple genres.”
No details have been shared about pricing, but we’ve seen speculation that the service will include an ad-supported tier, creating a pricing structure similar to Peacock.