It has to be a part of your streaming life

The new Discovery streaming service has finally arrived.

The company’s official entry into the streaming wars has brought all Discovery assets under one roof, from everything from real crime to reality TV and nature documentaries. Discovery + hosts tens of thousands of episodes from old broadcast channels such as HGTV, History Channel, A&E, Food Network and many more. And it’s not just old stuff – Discovery says it intends to bring over 1,000 hours of original content to the platform in its first year, with over 50 exclusives available on the service at launch. It is a pretty good content to offer to potential subscribers right from the gate.

But the service is charged both for its ad-free and ad-supported levels, which cost $ 5 and $ 7 per month, respectively. You really do you need to add another paid streaming service to your portfolio, especially when so many others were launched last year? Maybe not. But I would encourage anyone to give Discovery + a shot before canceling it. Not only was his original and natural exclusives from around the world a huge attraction for me personally – just like everyone else David Attenborough, who is there – but Discovery + delivered an excellent product at launch, which at least will introduces something new in limited premium content options.

Now, I’m not sure what your own quarantine diet was like, but I survived mostly on mindless reality television (I know, I know) and a lot of documentation about the natural world and space phenomena. I’ll watch it wherever I can find it: Netflix, Apple TV, PBS, anything. If it sounds like you, reader, I have some great news: Discovery + is an exact smorgasbord of this sort of thing, thanks to both Discovery’s own assets and the BBC’s exclusive programming, which includes Earth, The blue planet, Serengeti, and Mating game. Attenborough also tells the original Discovery + A Perfect Planet, a five-part series from the same people in the back Earth. This alone should be a sufficient reason to activate at least one of the multiples free trial offers the service is currently running.

But that’s not all. I was honestly surprised at how much variety was represented on launch day and how easy it was to find things to look for by genre or channel. Rows on the homepage make it easy to find new originals, recommended content, trendy series, and your own custom viewing list.. I want the service to make it easier to find 4K content. Right now, 4K is limited to a handful of natural world series as well Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II on the platforms that support it. But we should expect to see more 4K content eventually coming to work – possibly even this year.

In terms of support, Discovery + has had an invigorating and smooth launch on most major platforms, including Xbox, Fire TV, Roku, Apple, Android, Samsung smart TVs and Chromecast, including the latest version with Google TV. I am currently testing a Vizio OLED TVand while I couldn’t open the app on the TV itself, I managed to throw Discovery + on the TV on my iPhone 11. I asked Discovery if it intends to add support for other smart TVs running proprietary software, including LG and Vizio, aWhile the company had nothing to distribute immediately, it appears that Discovery is working on extended support.

Each of Discovery’s dozens of brands has their own balloon in a slider on the home page, as well as content categories such as lifestyle, adventure and exploration, paranormal and inexplicable, documentaries, as well as science and technology, among others. . It was immediately clear to me that rather than destroying a bunch of seemingly unrelated brands and hoping it would work (cough HBO Max cough), Discovery put a lot of thought into organization and design. It just works.

Now, you may be wondering how, with tens of thousands of episodes available at launch, Discovery is sorting out all its brands and titles to serve you something to watch. The company uses its own algorithm that takes into account a number of factors about your watch habits, and although it takes page views into account, the company would not comment on how its system works. But when it comes to user-specific content recommendations, it helps that Discovery + has made user profiles available immediately. Five profiles are accepted per account, and the service allows up to four simultaneous flows. This means that a subscription could cover almost everyone in an average household.

And what about his originals? You’ll probably know before you subscribe if you’re a super fan of Chip and Joanna Gaines – and there must be many, as Discovery leans into this marital venture. very hard – or the kind of weird tin hat wearer who will award a new series of blue cards to the project (me). But I was pleasantly surprised by the number of titles I will definitely add to the watch list, which I so desperately need to help me get through the rest of the winter. (I hesitate to admit that these titles include a paranormal joint called Amityville Horror House, but listen, we’re all doing our best right now.)

Discovery + will not replace your Netflix subscription, and the Discovery management said the same. But Discovery + is, as CEO David Zaslav described recently, a “perfect complement” to your core portfolio of cable cutting solutions. And who knows! It may just surprise you. As streaming releases continue, this is exceptional.

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• This new streaming service launches all Discovery assets under one roof, including HGTV, History Channel, A&E, Food Network, Discovery Channel and more.
• Discovery + is the exclusive home for in-kind BBC programming, including a brand new series from David Attenborough.
• Each profile supports up to five user profiles and four simultaneous streams.
• Both subscription levels are paid, with one offering advertising-supported content for $ 5 per month and one with no ads for $ 7 per month.