Discovery+

Discovery+ (pronounced "Discovery Plus"; stylized as discovery+) is an American multinational subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).[1] The service focuses on factual programming drawn from the libraries of Discovery's main channel brands, as well as original series (including spin-offs of programs from Discovery's television networks), and content from A&E Networks, NBCUniversal, and Discovery+’s corporate sibling CNN.

It was first launched in India on March 23, 2020. It launched in the United States on January 4, 2021, and replaced Discovery's Dplay and Eurosport Player services in Europe the next day. As of April 1, 2022, Discovery+ has 24 million subscribers.[2]

Discovery+ became a sister service to WarnerMedia's HBO Max following their merger in April 2022. HBO Max was relaunched as Max the following year (and reverted into HBO Max in 2025),[3] adding Discovery content to its library. While WBD originally planned to discontinue Discovery+ in favor of HBO Max, the company elected to continue offering Discovery+ because it was still profitable.[4]

History

Discovery first launched Discovery+ in India on March 23, 2020, and included content from Discovery's various brands.[5] In September of the same year, Discovery announced plans to launch an international version of Discovery+ in early 2021.[6]

In October 2020, it was announced that Dplay would be renamed Discovery+ in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the following month.[7][8]

On January 4, 2021, Discovery+ launched in the U.S. with both a paid ad-supported plan and an ad-free plan.[9][10] On January 5, 2021, Discovery+ launched in eight European territories, subsuming Dplay and the Eurosport Player services.[11][12][13][14][15]

In an earnings call on November 3, 2021, president and CEO of Discovery Streaming and International JB Perrette discussed potential options for the service following the then-proposed spin-off and merger of AT&T’s WarnerMedia into Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery. These involved a bundling and/or eventual merger of Discovery+ with WarnerMedia's streaming service HBO Max, and offering such a merged service in markets where Discovery+ has yet to launch, such as other parts of the Asia-Pacific region.[16] On March 14, 2022, after Discovery shareholders approved the merger, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated that the merged company planned to pursue a merger of HBO Max with Discovery+ as a long-term goal, following the process proposed by Perrette earlier.[17] Following the merger, selected Discovery library programs had begun to appear on HBO Max.

In August 2022, Perrette announced that a merged service would launch in the United States "next summer", if not sooner, followed by Latin America in late 2023, HBO Max's European markets in early 2024, and additional Asia-Pacific and European markets. Perrette stated that HBO Max and Discovery+ had complimentary scopes targeting "appointment viewing" and "comfort viewing" respectively, and thus described the unified service as being "an unprecedented combination in an already crowded market."[18] In November 2022, it was announced that the new service would now launch in spring 2023.[19][20] In early December 2022, it was reported by CNBC via inside sources that the unified platform was being developed under the codename "BEAM", and that multiple names were being considered—including simply "Max".[21][22]

In February 2023, Zaslav stated during an earnings call that WBD no longer planned to shut down Discovery+ in favor of the merged service, due to its profitability and low churn. He explained that its customers were "very happy with the product offering", and asked, "why would we shut that off?".[23] The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier in the month that WBD had planned to continue operating Discovery+ in conjunction with the new service, which was expected to have a higher price than HBO Max, and would feature "most", but not all, of the content of Discovery+.[24] Max was officially unveiled on April 12, 2023, for a US launch on May 23.[4] In contrast to WBD's plans to keep Discovery+ operational in at least the United States, Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific announced in March 2023 that Discovery+ would be discontinued in the Philippines on April 27, 2023, in favor of the local HBO Go service; WBD had announced an Asia-Pacific launch for Max on November 19, 2024.[25][26][27][28]

In Summer 2024, Max launched in 25 European countries, integrating content from Eurosport and Discovery+.[29] Consequently, countries offering both HBO Max (briefly known as Max until July 9, 2025)[30] and Discovery+ stopped accepting new Discovery+ subscriptions and renewals, with no new content being added to the platform, redirecting existing users to Max.

Shortly after, Discovery+ permanently closed in Denmark, Finland,[31] the Netherlands,[32] and Spain[33] on December 9, 2024, and ceased operations in Brazil on February 6, 2025,[34][35] and in Turkey on April 15, 2025.[36][37]

Annual subscriptions to Discovery+ Entertainment in Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom ended on February 27, 2025.

Discovery+ continued to wound down in European markets, where it was scheduled to launch in mid-2025.[38]

On December 5, 2025, Netflix announced it would acquire the streaming and studio assets of Warner Bros. Discovery for $82.7 billion, which would include assets like Warner Bros. Entertainment and HBO. This deal would exclude Discovery+, as well as the company's linear networks, which would be spun-off into a new publicly traded company, named Discovery Global.[39]

On February 27, 2026, Paramount Skydance outbid Netflix and confirmed their deal to acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion. The deal is expected to be closed by September 30, 2026 at the earliest.[40]

In early 2026, HBO Max was expected to launch in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom, with Discovery+ being integrated into the service. This was to follow the conclusion of the content and distribution agreement between Warner Bros. Discovery and Sky, which was set to expire at the end of 2025.[41]

Programming

Device support and service features

Discovery+ is available through traditional Windows/macOS web browsers, the major digital media player platforms (such as Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and Chromecast), Android TV, Xbox One/Series X/S gaming consoles, and through Android and iOS apps.[53]

Launch

At the beginning of 2021 it was announced that Discovery+ would become available to Vodafone customers in Romania, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Iceland sometime in the middle of 2022.[72] However, the plans were halted as Max was launched instead in those regions, excluding Greece and Iceland.

Criticism

There was criticism of the service at launch by some viewers of the networks and industry analysts, especially concerns that existing Discovery programming is being taken away from cable and satellite viewers and is being placed behind an additional paywall that may be inaccessible to viewers without robust broadband plans, or are in rural areas with little access to broadband, which in turn may imperil future carriage of those channels by Discovery's provider partners.[73][74] Other viewers have criticized Discovery's bait-and-switch tactics in forcing them to sign up for Discovery+ to have the 'full experience' of a series, as is being done for various Discovery+ spin-offs of 90 Day Fiancé, along with obtrusive Discovery+ advertising throughout the broadcast day (including a lower third sized banner in the top-right corner during actual programming) of many Discovery networks.[74][75]

See also

• List of streaming media services

External links