Discovery Plus, the cable programmer’s fledgling nonfiction streaming service, is available on Amazon Prime Video Channels in the U.S. — although for now, Prime members are able to sign up only for the higher-priced version with no ads.
Discovery Plus launched Jan. 4 in the U.S. on most devices and services, including Amazon Fire TV streaming devices and Fire TV Edition smart TVs. The initial launch on Prime Video Channels comes a week after Comcast added Discovery Plus as an option for Xfinity Flex broadband-only subs (with plans to bring it to X1 set-tops in the next few weeks).
The ad-free version of Discovery Plus is now available on Prime Video Channels for $6.99 per month and the ad-supported version ($4.99 per month) will be available “in the coming months.” Amazon’s Prime members can subscribe to Discovery Plus — and more than 100 other channels — through the Prime Video Channels service.
“Adding Discovery Plus and its exciting roster of top brands reinforces Prime Video Channels’ promise of bringing the best shows to our customers, all in one place,” Soumya Sriraman, Amazon’s head of Prime Video Channels, said in a statement.
The launch on Amazon Prime Video Channels expands Discovery Plus’ distribution beyond the ecommerce giant’s Fire TV devices. Separately, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced Thursday that the company has more than 200 million Prime members worldwide.
“This innovative relationship [with Amazon] provides multiple, compelling ways for us to reach and delight consumers with a truly differentiated streaming experience through Discovery Plus,” said Gabriel Sauerhoff, SVP of digital distribution and commercial partnerships at Discovery.
The service offers a bucket of 55,0000-plus episodes of current and older shows from Discovery’s networks, including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and the forthcoming Magnolia Network from Chip and Joanna Gaines. Discovery Plus also includes more than 50 original titles and hundreds of hours of exclusive content, along with select nonfiction library content from A+E Networks’ A&E, the History Channel and Lifetime, and exclusive streaming access to a collection of natural history programming from the BBC.
In February, Discovery said its direct-to-consumer streaming services, including Discovery Plus, Food Network Kitchen and MotorTrend, had topped 11 million subscribers globally. Execs have told Wall Street it expects a total addressable market of 70 million households domestically for the service.
