Discovery U.K.’s VOD service Dplay is being rebranded to Discovery Plus in November, alongside the launch of a subscription tier.
The new streaming service will aggregate Discovery U.K.’s pay-TV and free-to-air brands. It will be available directly to all consumers in the U.K. and Ireland, and to Sky Q customers for 12 months at no extra cost.
U.K. customers can subscribe to Discovery Plus directly via web or app purchase for a monthly fee of £4.99 ($6.47) or a discounted annual fee of £29.99 ($38.90), for a limited period. After this period, the cost will increase to the standard price £49.99 ($64.85). In Ireland, the service is priced at a monthly fee of €5.99 ($7.06) or a discounted annual fee of €34.99 ($41.25), for a limited period, after which it will increase to the standard price of €59.99 ($70.72). A 14-day free trial is available in both markets.
After the 12-month free period, Sky Q customers will be able to add Discovery Plus directly to their Sky bill. The app will be fully integrated into the Sky Q platform alongside existing SVOD services on the platform, such as Netflix and Disney Plus.
Brands on the service include TV channels Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, ID, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and Discovery History, as well as free-to-air channels Quest, Really, Quest Red, HGTV, Food Network and DMAX.
James Gibbons, executive vice president and general manager for the U.K. and Nordics, said: “We’ve just celebrated our best quarter ever for audience share, and buoyed by that success, are excited to announce the launch of Discovery Plus, to fuel the rapidly evolving demand for consumers to stream content at a time and on a device of their choosing.”
The last year has seen Discovery U.K.’s portfolio hit a 5% audience share (up by 17% year on year) following the integration of former UKTV channels.
Discovery Plus will be rolled out on additional devices and platforms in 2020 and 2021.
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