# Discovery Networks to direct stream



## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

One of the major reasons why I chose psvue was their (nearly total?) carridge of the discovery channels, particularly Science, American Heros, Investigation, and a boatload of others. When sony announced the shutdown, my immediate concern was those channels, along with Natgeo+wild, Smithsonian, and some other geek type programming. But I quickly figured out that only Philo mostly did, at another $20/month. Some live streamers carried 2-3 channels, but that's it.

But at ces, Discovery networks as announced that they would soon (right) offer a standalone package; no prices were announced, or any time frame (they've fielded this before with no follow through). Something north if 5-7/month. 

So get off your rear.


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

1948GG said:


> One of the major reasons why I chose psvue was their (nearly total?) carridge of the discovery channels, particularly Science, American Heros, Investigation, and a boatload of others. When sony announced the shutdown, my immediate concern was those channels, along with Natgeo+wild, Smithsonian, and some other geek type programming. But I quickly figured out that only Philo mostly did, at another $20/month. Some live streamers carried 2-3 channels, but that's it.
> 
> But at ces, Discovery networks as announced that they would soon (right) offer a standalone package; no prices were announced, or any time frame (they've fielded this before with no follow through). Something north if 5-7/month.
> 
> So get off your rear.


When PSVue announced they were shutting down I also looked around for a good alternative. I have found YTTV to be very close in terms of channels carried and honestly I find it better from a UI and DVR perspective. Of course that IJMHO and YMMV. I found the following site very helpful in comparing the channel coverage of the various live tv streaming services - Live Streaming Services Channel Comparison - The Streamable


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

Several drawbacks to yttv, not to say the other large streamers are lacking as well with the discovery channels. AHC and Science channel just to name two, big drawback, both of which are available on Sling, or through Philo (which as also has MTV networks and others), but at a premium cost.


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

1948GG said:


> Several drawbacks to yttv, not to say the other large streamers are lacking as well with the discovery channels. AHC and Science channel just to name two, big drawback, both of which are available on Sling, or through Philo (which as also has MTV networks and others), but at a premium cost.


Yeah unfortunately for some reason Science is not carried on too many of the live tv streaming services. YTTV already had the 2 NatGeo channels and then they added Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and MotorTrend. Philo is a good add to YTTV as the channel lineups don't overlap too much. Thankfully YTTV carries all the ones that I wanted except for NFL Channel and RedZone but I'll worry about those closer to August as their is no longer a need for them at this point in the NFL season. That's the thing about live tv streaming services...it's all about what channels you want/need.


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## wmb (Dec 18, 2008)

1948GG said:


> Several drawbacks to yttv, not to say the other large streamers are lacking as well with the discovery channels. AHC and Science channel just to name two, big drawback, both of which are available on Sling, or through Philo (which as also has MTV networks and others), but at a premium cost.


Not really. They offer what I consider filler TV. The stuff you put on for half an hour while you are waiting for something else to come on, or aren't quite ready for bed, but want something on the TV.

I occasionally watch Food Network or HGTV, and watched Good Eats once in a while. I'd say those shows are easily replaced. I mean competitive cooking? Sure its fun for a hour or two, but beyond that?

I found myself skipping past most Discovery channels because they were too repetitive. In that way, they remind me of the old Voom HD networks - I'm glad I dodged that bullet.

Right now, Nat Geo is available as part of Disney+.

I'll add that I feel pretty much the same about 75% of the channels available on any service, streaming, D*, cable, etc.

OK, to be more academic about it... I find that there are probably 10 channels I watch most... Local ABC, NBC, CBS, maybe Fox, then ESPN networks for college sports , NBCSN, then Disney and Cartoon Network (what can I say, my wife likes cartoons). Beyond that, maybe an episode of Diners Drive-ins and Dives or House Hunters at 10 since most networks show crap police procedurals or crap ooo-ra gung ho shows in that time slot.

These are the kind of networks that need to create an ad-supported free-to-stream via their app model. If give them my junk e-mail address to watch something every now and again.

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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

wmb said:


> Beyond that, maybe an episode of Diners Drive-ins and Dives or House Hunters at 10 since most networks show crap police procedurals or crap ooo-ra gung ho shows in that time slot.
> 
> These are the kind of networks that need to create an ad-supported free-to-stream via their app model. If give them my junk e-mail address to watch something every now and again.


You should check out what's available from all the free streaming channels in the Pluto TV app. You might be surprised the degree to which it can fill your needs for that kind of "non-appointment TV" content. There's a good bit of old recycled content from HGTV, Travel, etc. and other similar channels. Not to mention live news (CBSN and Sky News) plus a decent rotating selection of movies, some old sitcoms, etc. Between that and YouTube, it does a pretty good job for me of replacing channel surfing, where I graze on bits of this and that when I don't want to focus on a scripted series or movie.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

1948GG said:


> But at ces, Discovery networks as announced that they would soon (right) offer a standalone package; no prices were announced, or any time frame (they've fielded this before with no follow through). Something north if 5-7/month.
> 
> So get off your rear.


I feel the same way. He's been yammering on for a couple years now about wanting to offer a skinny bundle of just their channels/content with a low price. Maybe 2020 is when it finally happens.

They also announced last year that Discovery would launch an OTT service in partnership with The BBC, being the exclusive streaming home of their nature docs like Planet Earth (which has now left Netflix). Hopefully it all ends up being a single Discovery-branded service with everything. They're not big enough, IMO, to try to launch more than one service (although we see Viacom doing it with niche offerings like MTV Hits, Nick Hits, BET+, etc.).


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## wmb (Dec 18, 2008)

NashGuy said:


> You should check out what's available from all the free streaming channels in the Pluto TV app. You might be surprised the degree to which it can fill your needs for that kind of "non-appointment TV" content. There's a good bit of old recycled content from HGTV, Travel, etc. and other similar channels. Not to mention live news (CBSN and Sky News) plus a decent rotating selection of movies, some old sitcoms, etc. Between that and YouTube, it does a pretty good job for me of replacing channel surfing, where I graze on bits of this and that when I don't want to focus on a scripted series or movie.


I have it, but find it has too many ads. It seems like double the normal number of ads.

I have You Tube TV for ESPN, so have access to many Discovery channels. But, I wouldn't miss them if they were to disappear.

I'm kind of curious how many people would subscribe to this type of an offering.

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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

One of the things I found out as to why the 'Discovery' channels, in particular 'Science', seem to be a bit out of sync as to carridge, is that 'Science' is apparently partially owned by a separate company other than 'Discovery', and charge an additional fee for carridge. That may also be why putting together a stand-alone streaming package has a bit more bumps in the road than may be initially evident.


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

wmb said:


> I have it, but find it has too many ads. It seems like double the normal number of ads.


When it comes to reruns of broadcast/cable TV shows on Pluto TV, I'm pretty sure that they carry the same amount of ads as when they originally ran, because they're still fitting them into the same half-hour and hour-long time slots and it doesn't appear that they've cut out any of the content. Now, as for movies on Pluto TV, I dunno. Maybe the ad load on those exceeds what is typical of broadcast/cable (where the average is, I think, about 16 minutes out of every hour).


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

wmb said:


> I have You Tube TV for ESPN, so have access to many Discovery channels. But, I wouldn't miss them if they were to disappear.
> 
> I'm kind of curious how many people would subscribe to this type of an offering.


I think the danger for Discovery is that the kind of unscripted/lifestyle TV that they specialize in is pretty cheap to make and there's a lot of it out there. And broader competitors like Netflix and the upcoming HBO Max are getting into that space too by making/acquiring their own similar stuff. My guess is that the unscripted/lifestyle content on these bigger streaming services will be sufficient for a lot of folks. If you only casually watch that kind of thing here and there, do you really need to pay an extra $7 a month for the Discovery service?

Discovery will have to rely on the strength of their brands and their associated personalities (Chip & Joanna Gaines, Guy Fieri, Deadliest Catch, etc.) to get folks to specifically seek them out as opposed to just watching copycat shows on Netflix, etc. from Marie Kondo or whomever. But their shows do have pretty significant followings. Discovery is the number 1 most-watched media company among US women according to Nielsen.


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## B. Shoe (Apr 3, 2008)

NashGuy said:


> Discovery will have to rely on the strength of their brands and their associated personalities (Chip & Joanna Gaines, Guy Fieri, Deadliest Catch, etc.) to get folks to specifically seek them out as opposed to just watching copycat shows on Netflix, etc. from Marie Kondo or whomever. But their shows do have pretty significant followings. Discovery is the number 1 most-watched media company among US women according to Nielsen.


You're hitting a nail on the head here. How many times have we seen the following statement on the boards?

"I'd love to switch to (insert provider here), but my significant other/spouse/etc. simply cannot live without (insert show/personality here) and it's non-negotiable."

Consider it the other end of the "I have to have NFL Sunday Ticket" spectrum. Whether it bears long term success and subscribers, I couldn't predict. But happy wife, happy life, right?


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

I would have interest in an commercial free Discovery streaming option but it would have to be cheaper than the CBS All Access commercial free option is.


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## DaRef (Jan 10, 2018)

B. Shoe said:


> You're hitting a nail on the head here. How many times have we seen the following statement on the boards?
> 
> "I'd love to switch to (insert provider here), but my significant other/spouse/etc. simply cannot live without (insert show/personality here) and it's non-negotiable."
> 
> Consider it the other end of the "I have to have NFL Sunday Ticket" spectrum. Whether it bears long term success and subscribers, I couldn't predict. But happy wife, happy life, right?


A wise man once told me in dealing with my spouse that I could be right or I could be happy. I chose happy! ROTFL ......


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

DaRef said:


> dealing with my spouse


Whenever my wife is unhappy I just tell her to go cry on a bag of money.


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## wmb (Dec 18, 2008)

Another aspect of this is the fact that they are linear channels.

There are times when you turn the TV on and just put something on to passively watch. Most of the time, the Discovery channels have something you can join in progress that is kinda entertaining. Sure, Guy Fieri has personality, but what episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives couldn't be joined or left at any point?

I approach streaming from Netflix, Hulu, or Disney differently. There, I have a show in mind and want to start at the beginning. It's a more active viewing mindset and process.

I'm not sure how this translate to a revenue generating streaming model.


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

wmb said:


> Another aspect of this is the fact that they are linear channels.
> 
> There are times when you turn the TV on and just put something on to passively watch. Most of the time, the Discovery channels have something you can join in progress that is kinda entertaining. Sure, Guy Fieri has personality, but what episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives couldn't be joined or left at any point?
> 
> ...


This is a good point. Lots of folks like to have something playing on tv almost like background noise. We have several friends like that. Other people (my wife and I for example) only have the tv on when we are actively watching something. Thankfully neither of us are fans of "tv as background"....


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## wmb (Dec 18, 2008)

mjwagner said:


> This is a good point. Lots of folks like to have something playing on tv almost like background noise. We have several friends like that. Other people (my wife and I for example) only have the tv on when we are actively watching something. Thankfully neither of us are fans of "tv as background"....


It's not even that... It's I got home at 10:30 and I want to watch something while I'm waiting for the 11 o'clock news to come on.

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## B. Shoe (Apr 3, 2008)

wmb said:


> There are times when you turn the TV on and just put something on to passively watch. Most of the time, the Discovery channels have something you can join in progress that is kinda entertaining. Sure, Guy Fieri has personality, but what episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives couldn't be joined or left at any point?


Mildly diverting off the thread subject, but this is the biggest change I've noticed to my viewing habits since making a jump to streaming. I'm not passively watching as much stuff anymore, or just turning on the TV just to turn it on. I usually have something in mind that I want to watch, whether that's a ballgame, movie, next episode of something on HBO/Disney/etc. If nothing perks my interest, I'll just fire up Spotify and let some music play.


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

B. Shoe said:


> Mildly diverting off the thread subject, but this is the biggest change I've noticed to my viewing habits since making a jump to streaming. I'm not passively watching as much stuff anymore, or just turning on the TV just to turn it on. I usually have something in mind that I want to watch, whether that's a ballgame, movie, next episode of something on HBO/Disney/etc. If nothing perks my interest, I'll just fire up Spotify and let some music play.


Interestingly enough that is what ended up getting us to switch to streaming. Our viewing habits changed about 4 years ago to really only turning on the tv when we wanted to watch something, when we wanted to watch it, and binging on shows on services like NetFlix and Prime. Once that happened we realized we weren't really using D anymore except for news and some sports.


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

wmb said:


> It's not even that... It's I got home at 10:30 and I want to watch something while I'm waiting for the 11 o'clock news to come on.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


In our case as an example we typically watch the news on our "hyper local" station at 6...we turn the tv on a few minutes before 6...


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

I remember my parents watching programs every night during prime time in the 50's. We watch the local and network news almost every night but later viewing is either DVR'd or streaming. We do a lot of reading in the evening.


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## Andrew Sullivan (Dec 7, 2017)

There is always something on worth watching. Especially if you record a lot.


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